Abide — October 17
The Joy of God — chara
The world will spend all week telling you who you need to become. Every Saturday morning, we’ll remember who you already are in Christ. Friends, welcome back to Abide.
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” — John 15:11, NIV (emphasis added).
Our society has wildly skewed the meaning of joy. We often associate it with happiness, laughter, optimism, an upbeat demeanor, or even a general sense of satisfaction with life. We describe joyful people as those who seem to always have a smile on their faces, who find the positive in every situation, or who simply appear to have a particularly cheerful disposition. While none of those things are bad (they are awesome!), I think we have allowed our understanding of joy to become so closely tied to our emotions and circumstances that we have completely missed the truth of the joy of God.
The joy described in the Bible is something far deeper than a pleasant emotion or positive outlook. In fact, it actually has nothing to do with either of those things (whatttt?). It is not dependent on our circumstances, personalities, the percentage of how much people see our pearly whites :), or even how we feel on a certain day. In fact, some of the clearest pictures of biblical joy are found in the lives of people who were suffering, grieving, questioning, or enduring circumstances that seemed to offer very little reason for happiness.
The Greek word chara (χαρά), commonly translated as “joy” throughout the New Testament, conveys a deep, abiding gladness. Strong’s Concordance describes it as “cheerfulness, i.e. calm delight.” I love that—calm delight. The word comes from chairō, meaning “to rejoice” or “to be glad,” and is closely related to charis, the Greek word for grace. Although these words carry their own distinct meanings, their shared linguistic root gives us something worth considering: the relationship between the grace we receive from God and the joy we experience in knowing him.
Unlike happiness, which naturally fluctuates with our circumstances, biblical joy is something deeper and more enduring. It does not require the absence of sorrow, fear, disappointment, or suffering. Rather, it is a settled confidence in the goodness and faithfulness of God, even when everything happening around us (or in us) suggests otherwise.
In the ancient world, joy was frequently associated with celebrations, victories, feasts, and other communal gatherings. It was something people experienced together in response to favorable events or circumstances. We can certainly see examples of that kind of rejoicing throughout Scripture. But the biblical understanding of joy extends beyond the celebration itself. For believers, joy becomes something rooted not merely in what has happened to us or what we have received, but in our relationship with the God who remains faithful regardless of what happens next.
Throughout Scripture, some of the clearest examples of this joy come from people who were actually experiencing tremendous hardship. Let’s take a walking tour through the garden of joy, shall we?
First, consider David, whose psalms are filled with anguish, grief, fear, and questions. He cried out to God when he felt abandoned (more than once), pleaded for deliverance from enemies (he had a lot of them for a shepherd boy), and struggled pretty openly (and maybe dramatically) with the circumstances of his life. Yet, in Psalm 16:11, David declares that he will be filled with joy in God’s presence. In Psalm 13, he begins by asking, “How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1, NIV), but concludes by declaring, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation” (Psalm 13:5, NIV). His circumstances did not change, but his confidence in God’s faithfulness remained — the source of his joy.
And on your left, we can see a similar theme in the life of Job, who experienced unimaginable loss and suffering. I mean literally in one afternoon: All of Job's cattle, camels, sheep, and servants vanish or get wiped out; a freak windstorm destroys the house, taking all his children out in a single tragic sweep; AND then Job gets covered in painful, itchy boils from head to toe, sitting in the dirt scraping his skin with a broken piece of pottery… talk about a “terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad day!” Unfortunately, that was not even the end of it…
Job grieved deeply, questioned God and his circumstances, and struggled to understand why God had allowed such devastation. He absolutely did not pretend that everything was fine or attempt to manufacture some fake optimism (how could he?). His wife and friends were of zero help at all. Yet, even in the midst of this deep suffering, he declared, “I know that my redeemer lives” (Job 19:25, NIV). His grief was real, but so was his confidence in God—joy.
One of my personal favorite examples of this kind of joy is found in the life of the prophet Habakkuk. “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (Habakkuk 3:17-18, NIV). After describing a season of complete devastation, he declares he will be joyful and rejoice in the Lord. Notice that his rejoicing was not dependent on those vines suddenly bursting with grapes or sheep magically popping up in the pen—his joy was found in the Lord himself.
These examples (and countless others) are important because we all have developed an expectation of what a “joyful Christian” should look like. We sometimes speak as though experiencing anxiety, depression, grief, or discouragement must indicate a lack of joy or faith. But Scripture simply does not support that understanding! You can experience profound sorrow and still possess the joy of Christ. Hear me—You can struggle with anxiety, depression, disappointment, or uncertainty and still have a deep, abiding confidence in the goodness of God. Joy does not require us to deny the reality of suffering; it reminds us that suffering is not the entirety of our reality.
In Nehemiah 8:10, the Israelites are reminded that “the joy of the LORD is your strength” even as they are overcome with sorrow. Paul, writing from literal prison, encourages believers to “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4, NIV). James instructs us to “consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds” because of the perseverance God can produce through them (James 1:2-3, NIV). Peter describes believers rejoicing in their salvation even as they suffer grief through various trials (1 Peter 1:3-9). Again and again, Scripture reminds us that true joy is not the opposite of suffering—It is something that can exist right alongside it.
I think what might be the most important thing to understand is that this joy is not something we are expected to manufacture of our own willpower—we do not just “grin and bear it” or “fake it ‘til we make it.” Galatians 5:22 identifies joy as part of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, produced within us as we remain connected to Christ. In John 15, after Jesus explains the importance of abiding in him as the true Vine, he tells his disciples, “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11, NIV). Jesus does not tell them to create joy for themselves, but promises that his joy can dwell within them as they remain in his love.
Consider the circumstances in which Jesus spoke these words. He was preparing his disciples for his coming death, knowing the grief, fear, and uncertainty they were all about to experience. He even flat-out told them that they would weep and mourn, but promised that their grief would turn to joy (John 16:20–22). Hebrews 12:2 tells us that Jesus himself endured the cross “for the joy set before him.” There was not a single thing that was pleasant about the suffering he endured, but his joy was rooted in something greater than the suffering itself.
We can take this back to the beautiful relationship between chara and charis — joy and grace. The joy of the Christian life is inseparable from the grace of God. We have been loved, forgiven, redeemed, and welcomed into a relationship with him, not because of anything we have accomplished or deserved, but because of what Christ has done for us. Our circumstances will change, our emotions will fluctuate (wildly at times), and our lives will often look nothing like we imagined they would, but the grace of God remains constant.
I truly wonder how much our understanding of joy would change if we actually stopped measuring it by how happy we feel and started recognizing it as a deep constant rooted in who God is. Joy can certainly be manifested in laughter, celebration, and overwhelming gratitude. But more often it looks like quietly trusting God when we have no idea what comes next; holding onto his promises while grieving something we have lost; or simply reminding ourselves in the middle of a difficult day that the God who saved us has not abandoned us.
I think a lot of us spend so much of our lives searching for circumstances that will finally make us happy—convincing ourselves that we will be truly content when something changes, when a difficult thing passes, or when our life finally starts to look the way we imagined. But if our “joy” depends entirely on what is happening around us, we will continue to spend our whole lives chasing something that can never remain constant—and that is not true joy.
The invitation to abide in Christ is also an invitation to experience the true joy that comes from knowing him. Not the manufactured happiness or denial of life’s difficulties—but a deep and abiding delight in the God who has given us his grace, promised us his presence, and secured our hope through Jesus Christ. The joy of the Lord is our strength, not because life is always good (it is not), but because God always is.
This Week’s Reflection
Truly examine your heart—have you been measuring joy (yours or others’) by circumstances, emotions, appearance, etc.—or by relationship with God?
Consider whether you have been waiting for something in your life to change before allowing yourself to rejoice in him.
As you spend some time with the Lord today, ask him to deepen your understanding of the joy that comes from abiding in his presence, remembering that you do not have to manufacture it or pretend to feel something you do not. You are simply invited to remain in the source of true joy—the “calm delight” of the Vine.
If you would like, continue taking a walk through the “garden of joy.” Here are some great stops along the way: Exodus 15:20-21; 2 Chronicles 20:21-27, 30:21-26; 1 Samuel 2 (Hannah); Ezra 6:22; Job 1:20-21; Psalm 16, 32, 63, 94; Isaiah 61:10; Habakkuk 3:17-18; Nehemiah 8:10-12; Luke 1:46-47; Luke 2:10-20; Acts 5:41; Acts 8:39; Acts 16:25; Philippians 4:4; Romans 5:3.
bytaylormcgee
