The Miracle of Joy
The joy of the Lord is my strength. Years of Sunday school ensured that I can’t think those words without a beat: The jo-oy of the Lo-o-o-ord is my strength! Those lyrics are a nearly exact quote from the most (only?) famous (part of a) verse of Nehemiah:
“Then he [Ezra] said to them, ‘Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength’” (Neh. 8:10).
That last phrase, with its corporate “your” changed to “my” to make it more personal, makes a chipper little tune. As a child it was fun to sing. But as an adult staring down the barrel of life’s very real griefs and challenges, it can ring hollow. Divorced from its context as it is, it comes across more like a happy-slappy taunt to the strengthless. I don’t have that joy? How will I ever find strength? Singing that song over and over does little to drum it up. So how, I wonder, can I get this joy? The answer, as is nearly always the case, can be found when we put God’s Word back in its context.
Nehemiah Chapter 8 contains one of the greatest and possibly most understated (and underrated) miracles in Scripture. In previous chapters, despite ongoing death threats and harassment, the people of Israel completed the difficult and dangerous work of rebuilding the wall of Jerusalem in only 52 days, a feat so shocking that even their enemies recognized the hand of God was in it (6:15-16). This was a miracle, but not the one I am referring to. By the end of Chapter 7, “the people of Israel were in their towns.” With their work in Jerusalem complete, the time had come to get back to normal.
We aren’t told what precipitated the great event that was about to happen. All we know is that on the first day of the seventh month, “all the people gathered as one man into the square before the Water Gate. And they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses that the LORD had commanded Israel” (8:1). This, my friends, is the miracle, a miracle the likes of which none of us have ever witnessed—a mob gathered in the town square, built a pulpit (v. 4), and demanded to be taught the Bible.
This was the moment Ezra had prepared for all his life. He opened the book; the people opened their hearts; and they stood. And they stood. And they stood, while Ezra read “from early morning until midday.” The Levites also stood, scattered among the people, and helped them understand what they heard (vs. 7-8). And as they understood, they began to see how far into sin they had fallen, how unfit they were to stand before their holy God, and “all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law” (v. 9).
Have you ever opened your heart to the word of God and grieved over the sin it exposed? If so, you’ve witnessed a miracle. There is no greater miracle than repentance, than a dead heart brought to life by God’s Word. Grief is your starting place for joy. From there, even in the midst of your sorrow, you can rejoice because you have "understood the words that were declared” to you (8:12).
