Psalm 98
Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him.
The Lord has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
He has remembered his love and his faithfulness to the house of Israel; all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God.
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
Let the sea resound and everything in it, the world and all who live in it. Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy; let them sing before the Lord, for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples with equity.
Once, in the midst of a conversation that I no longer remember very well, my brother said to me, “Be careful not to limit the joy of your own life.” I’m sure he was reacting to my “older brother” tendency to focus on duty before fun and to turn fun into work. His words seem as wise to me today as they did then.
After all, Jesus said that joy was the whole point of the gospel itself!
John 15:11
I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
How often do you experience and express joy? How often do you laugh?
I saw an article recently that cited research that indicated that children laugh as often as 400 times a day whereas, by the time we are adults, that number drops to 17 times a day. I’m not sure I laugh 17 times in a week sometimes!
What happens to our capacity for laughter and joy as we grow older? I think it leaks. Like the tire on my car that had a nail stuck in the tread causing it to slowly lose air, our joy leaks slowly, imperceptibly, through the tiny and not so tiny wounds we collect over time.
Yet James says:
Is any one of you in trouble? He should pray. Is anyone happy? Let him sing songs of praise. James 5:13
In four short sentences James touches the outer extremes of human life: trouble and joy. He’s telling us that the gift of prayer is wide enough to encompass both our troubles and our joy. We can pray in our trouble and pain; and we can pray out our joys and praises. It seems to me we have the first down pretty well; the second, not so much.
I don’t know about you but prayer comes pretty easy to me when I am in trouble. Something isn’t going well; something hurts; I need help; I pray. It seems like the natural thing to do. But when I experience the gift of joy and when that joy has not leaked from my heart; when the blessings of my life are particularly sweet; when my family is healthy and happy; when my work is going well; when all is good in my world; sometimes I forget to praise God.
Why?
I think I forget because I kind of like to take credit for my own joy. I think I forget because I kind of like to pretend I deserve the joy that comes my way instead of seeing joy as a gift from God. The truth is, as James says,
Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above… James 1:17
James is teaching us to be people who pray not just when we are in trouble and need God’s help, but also when we are healthy, happy and filled with joy. When we offer our songs of praise to God we are not only more deeply aware of our joy but we recognize God as the source of all joy.
Read again the words of the Psalm:
Sing to the Lord a new song, for he has done marvelous things; his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him…
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music; make music to the Lord with the harp, with the harp and the sound of singing, with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn – shout for joy before the Lord, the King. Psalm 98:1, 4-6
I believe that both James and the Psalmist are teaching us that the more we recognize God as the source of all joy; the more we offer our praise to him; the more joy we tend to find and the less our joy tends to leak!
Brian Coffey
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