Skip to main content

Surprised by Joy- Joy Series #1


Surprised by joy.  
The title of the famous C.S. Lewis work begs a question:
Really?  Is that really even possible?  To be surprised by joy?
When nothing goes as expected: when mentors are a let-down, friends flake, usual encouragers are nowhere to be seen, and people take advantage of you.  
When you feel alone but don’t know why, or know why but don’t know how to explain it to others. 
What then?
When your efforts for time with the Lord fail because you can’t stay awake and even a 10 minute drive results in dozing.

What even is joy?  It seems to be more than a feeling, but often result in one.  It seems to be preceded by hope.
But how do you hope when you’re hope-less?  How do you move out of the pit when you’re stuck in your self pity and don’t want to get out?

Isn’t self pity really just not believing in the goodness of God?  Look at Elijah: he experiences the mighty power of God on the mountain, sees Him about to bring the rain, is given extra strength to outrun a chariot, but then fears one person and runs away to the wilderness. 

If only he had believed in the goodness of God to protect him.  

There would’ve been no reason to flee.  But he does.  He doesn’t trust the God who sent fire, rain, and strength to protect him now.  This sends him into self-pity in which he begs that God would take his life.

Self pity often causes irrationality.  We see all the bad things and refuse to hope in the God we know is good.

Amazingly, it’s in this self pity that God meets Elijah.  He sends an angel to provide food for Elijah; even enough for him to last 40 days!  In that 40 days, He travels on the God-graced provision to Mount Horeb, where God meets Him again.

From the human perspective, we reason that God would meet Him in a way that shows Elijah His power; His ability to protect.  

But God knows how we need to be met.

The mountains shake and break to pieces in a mighty wind. 
God is not in it.
Again it moves in a violent earthquake.
But again God is not not in it.
Flames burn and crackle.
God does not reside within them.

And then a quiet whisper.  
And God is there.  

Unexpectedly.  Grace.

From there God sends Elijah to appoint the new kings of Judah and Israel and to appoint as his successor.  1 Kings says of Elisha that he “arose and followed Elijah and ministered to him.” (19:21).  

Again the grace of God.  He provides for Elijah’s need to be ministered to and to be followed up in ministry.

In the midst of Elijah’s self-pitied sin, God meets him and gives him food, reveals Himself, and provides a companion for him.  He provides for the physical, spiritual, and emotional.

This depiction of God’s grace brings unexpected joy.  
But shouldn’t it?  Because grace should always be unexpected because it’s always undeserved.  And grace is always reason for joy!




*The lyrics from Josh Garrels’ “Songbird” says it well:

“The fire passed me by; 
the earthquake’s shaking the mountain. 
And I let em go.

When love had left me dry,
your quiet voice broke through, 
to water my soul now.”

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Expressions

I find myself drawn more and more to the expression. There’s something so moving about taking in the communication of someone else’s experience or in expressing your own. Words.  Pictures.  Stories.  Paintings.  Music.  Beauty. What else can we expect as creations of a undeniably communicative God? The one who penned His words for us, made unending images of creativity, wrote a story that spans all time, made the entire universe His canvas, is continually praised with song, and in whom are culminated all things beautiful.  And so we live forth His image and express here on this earth. The more you interact with these expressions, though, the more you begin to see that what really moves is not the penned letters or the captured images or the compiled sounds, but the heart of the communicator.   It’s in the expression of their experience that you begin to share their joy, to feel their pain, to enter into their journey.  It’s wh...

Being with Jesus

This season of my life has proven to be one of many tensions.  Of foremost influence has been the tension between considering my own needs and limits and putting aside what I need for the sake of others.  In the midst of this season, I was struck anew by this section from Mark 6: vv. 30-31 “The apostles gathered together with Jesus; and they reported to Him all that they had done and taught.  And He said to them, ‘Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.’  (For there were many people coming and going, and they did not even have time to eat).” What peace it speaks to my soul to hear the Savior lead them to rest, knowing their physical needs after a time of preaching which had likely left them worn out and a  return to being surrounded by people and even kept from eating. But then I kept reading... “They went away in the boat to a secluded place by themselves.  The people saw them going and many recognized them and ran ...

Death to Life

It’s good Friday.   The words of Bonhoeffer ruminate in my head and the world around me vacillates between winter and spring. The day, the words, the surroundings speak of death. Those trailing flowers I pass by every day on my way to work have moved from tiny buds to full-fledged blooms and I’m reminded that death always brings about life. The words of a wise man, spoken years ago in a time of vision seeming to die, ring in my head again: “In order for something new to come, something has to die.” It speaks a hope over the death of dreams and a season that has made me aware of just how failing my flesh is.   The thoughts leave as quickly as they enter and I go about my day. I find myself skimming the newspaper handed to me by the man changing my oil.   My eyes are drawn to a section on chronic pain and I read about a newer perspective of doctors regarding this issue: the focus has shifted from attempting to take away all pain, to trying to re...