I love that opening chapter in “The Hobbit” where Bilbo Baggins says, “Good morning” to Gandalf. Gandalf asks some probing questions – “What do you mean? Do you wish me a good morning, or mean that it is a good morning whether I want it or not; or that you feel good this morning; or that it is a morning to be good on?”
Now I admit – I love a play on words. Most of the time I understand them as such. But sometimes….
I have always wrestled with what, exactly, Nehemiah means when he declares, “The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Nehemiah 8:10). Does he mean the joy you feel in God is your strength? Or that God has placed joy within you and that is your strength? Or maybe it’s actually the Lord’s own joy that is supposed to be your strength… hmmm….
This is where you get down to context. God’s people had spent seventy years in exile because of their sins, something that broke God’s heart – but He had to do it if He was ever going to have a relationship with them again. The people returned – scared, small, and unsure of themselves. Nehemiah returns and marshals them to action, and they rebuild the city wall around Jerusalem. Then they all get together and listen to the words of the law. All the commands, all the blessings, all the curses. It’s too raw for them! They know what exile feels like, they were there! They know the stories their mothers and fathers and aunts and uncles all told about the war. The famine. The dying. The humiliation. They know it was their own fault, and as they are listening to Ezra read the law, they break down in tears, chained to the past.
Oh… but God. You see, God is not having any of that today! He’s been waiting these seventy years too – anguished at their suffering and their humiliation. Seventy lonely years. But now they are back! And His joy is unbridled! Nehemiah calls them to this joy!
“People! You’ve got to understand! God has wanted this from the beginning of this terrible exile thing! He has longed for you and waited for this day! There is no reason to be sad or fearful, this is not the day to cry over your past sins! That’s the past, this is now – this is the welcome home party He’s been planning for 70 years! No crying here. Let His joy strengthen you to remove your insecurities and doubt!”
And yet… how about us? Do we get Luke 15:7 and 10 and that whole “more rejoicing in Heaven” talk Jesus gave? God is crazy about us! We come broken and beat up from all our own self-abuse. Let’s get this straight – we’ve run ourselves through the mill. And yet. When we turn to God. When we finally turn to him. Ashamed and scared like the prodigal in Luke 15:19-20. God runs to us – unable to keep His joy in check, looking us over with our ripped clothes, black eyes, mud-streaked faces, and bloody knuckles and falling over Himself with happiness at the prize He has in us! That’s what Nehemiah is talking about – there is nothing in this world as fortifying as knowing you’ve made someone happy – and if that happens to be God – with all the joy of eternity focused on you – how great is that strength?
Love the play on words, it makes you think what you are actually saying. As for Joy it reminds me of the joy I fell when one of my children finally experience the product of my love and finally acknowledge it. It often takes years of the same lessons over and over, and it is a growing curve when they finally understand. Joy is a by-product of love. Without the work of love it is lost. It is love experienced.
Melissa well done as a loving mom !