The Paradox of Joy (written August 15, 2009)
“Joy is not the absence of difficulty”. The Lord spoke this
to me this weekend while I was thanking Him for the closeness that has come to
be more normal in my walk lately. In the midst of that prayer of thanksgiving,
my mind began to recount the personal struggles I have been through recently
(and still battle currently). I won’t dive into the details here, but know that
I have been forced to face the worst kind of fears a father could confront. So
over the past several months my family and I have been through enough emotional
suffering to last us a lifetime. As I was taking inventory of my “present
suffering” it felt wrong to be thinking of joy. It just doesn’t seem logical to
think that in the midst of such pain that joy would be possible…but it’s there.
With the battle still raging it feels important to capture the unique paradox
of joy and difficulty, suffering and hope. As I meditate on this I draw wisdom
from other saints that new something of joy and suffering. I first think of
King David who wrote in Psalm 23 (I know you’ve heard/read this a hundred times
but really read it right now):
The LORD is my
shepherd, I shall not be in want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures, he
leads me beside quiet waters, 3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of
righteousness for his name's sake. 4 Even though I walk through the valley of
the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and
your staff, they comfort me.5 you prepare a table before me in the presence of
my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness
and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house
of the LORD forever.
There are those that read this and fully know David’s
reference to “…the valley of the shadow of death…”, you know loss and pain. I
don’t know that I did until this past year but I have literally faced “the
shadow of death” and in the midst of this valley, I have experienced the
comfort of the Lord’s rod and staff (His strength and direction). This
experience has left me with the hope and assurance that “…I will dwell in the
house of the Lord forever.”
Maybe it’s coincidental that these things (suffering and
hope) are currently connected or maybe it’s just God’s provision for me as I
face this difficulty. Maybe, but then I’m reminded of the Apostle Paul’s
discussion on the topic in Romans 5 where Paul seems to be writing the formula
for hope that begins with suffering.
Romans 5:3…We also
rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces
perseverance; 4 perseverance, character; and character, hope. 5 And hope does not
disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, whom he has given us.
I’ve been guilty of reading this verse as if it were a
formula, some type of spiritual equation. I can logically tie together how
suffering leads to perseverance. It makes since if you deal with tough things
you get stronger and are more able to persevere. I also get how that
perseverance breeds character. But what
I could not understand, until recently, is how that hope is related to any of
this. Why hope? I think the piece that ties the first three (suffering,
perseverance and character) to the latter (hope) is trust (or faith). You see,
the hope that I now have is firmly rooted in knowing the depths of God’s love
and experiencing the power of His Spirit and feeling the depth of intimacy with
Jesus in these low times. All of those things raise my faith in Him and allow
me to fully realize the hope, or joy, that is promised Christians. This is a
faith that is taught not caught, learned in the school of spiritual hard
knocks.
Run from the preacher that tries to convince you that the
goal of a Christ Follower is a life without struggle. I haven’t come across many that would state
it so plainly, but I have heard many messages that paint the ideal picture of a
Christian is a life without difficulty. Their messages tend to be heavy on the
call to prayer for blessings and then subtly hint that any adversity you’re
facing may be your lack of faith. The truth is, that the current suffering
you’re facing may be about faith, not the faith you’re lacking but the faith
that God is building in you. It’s in that new found faith that you’ll also find
joy.
