“You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 NKJV
Have you ever paused to consider the depths of true joy?
I ask this question because I hadn’t until more recently. I often equated joy to happiness. But the issue with that is, happiness is fleeting. My happiness is often tethered to what is going on in my life on a given day. But joy is different.
Psalm 16:11 tells us, “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” This verse beautifully reminds us that joy isn’t just a fleeting emotion but a profound state of being found exclusively in God's presence.
Said another way, God grants us the joy of His presence. Joy is given to us. It isn’t a feeling that we can muster up but an experience that God allows. And it is made full by God when we are communing with Him.
It is expected that King David wrote this Psalm during a hardship or time of peril. So as far as he was concerned, his situation didn’t determine his state of being. Whereas, he proclaimed that he would bless the Lord and trust that God’s presence both here and in eternity was enough to provoke his joy.
Just a few verses up in this Psalm; David exclaims that his heart is glad because he knows that the Lord is always with him; right beside him. That is true joy.
Joy is a consistent decision that is not predicated on possessions or accomplishments but a way of life; a lens in which you view the world. Joy is a mindset that is often developed through learning to trust God in the midst of a hardship.
James 1:2-3 tells us to count it all joy when troubles comes our way because when our faith is tested, it is an opportunity for us to build endurance.
True joy is a fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5: 22). It is a posture of the heart of the believer who is determined to obediently follow Christ.
Joy is mentioned over 300 times in scripture which to me signifies that as believers we ought to seek it. We ought to seek the giver of it. We ought to allow the Lord to fill us with His joy. A joy that is not given by this world, so the world can’t take it away.