Saturday, September 26, 2020 15:25:43
Posted By Nan
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Proverbs 15 In my research into this chapter of Proverbs, I found four references to Joy. There is the reference in verse 20 to the joy of parents in the walk their child has with God. This is the joy of sharing in salvation with our children. There is a more human joy, a poor imitation of true Joy. This is what those who lack understanding and see life as a pursuit of hedonistic pleasure chase after. Those who grasp the meaning of life as a walk with God experience true Joy. This is found in verse 21. In verse 23 there is joy at seeing the delight of a person who, having heard the good news of our salvation, is so gripped with enthusiasm they joyously share that news. This is more about the delight at seeing other people saved and the contagiousness of their joy. This is echoed in some translations which in verse 13 speak of the heart that is full of joy and gladness making a cheerful face. n short, joy is contagious. If we are open to the good news and the joy of others in that good news we will experience joy too. Proverbs 15 has a lot of references to joy. All these references can be confusing so I am stopping to consider what Bible dictionaries say about Joy. The following paragraphs are a summary of what I read. In the Bible, Joy is usually seen as the mark of the believer, or group of believers worshipping together. It is a quality, not just an emotion and is grounded upon and derived from God. Joy is seen as characterising the life of a believer. It is also seen as giving us a glimpse of our experience of being with Jesus forever in Heaven. In the New Testament, Joy became a vital part of the proclamation of the Good News of our salvation through Jesus who came in an unexpected way and died on a cross in a most unsaviourlike way. To complete Him throwing human expectation into disarray, he rose from the dead. The sheer unexpectedness of Jesus and the culmination of His ministry has enhanced the Good News and given the believer of the current period even greater cause for Joy. I haven’t reached the New Testament in this exploration yet, but we will see Paul address suffering and its relationship to joy once the exploration reaches that point. If I relate this back to the joy references in this chapter, I can see the evidence of joy as a dynamic gift of God. God gives us joy because of His salvation. We experience that joy as a result of our relationship with God. Seeing our children embrace faith in God is an aspect of that joy. We want our children to experience that too so we experience the joy God has for all believers when our children embrace that salvation. We also experience joy at seeing other people experience joy. It is wonderful to hear people talk about their joyous experience of God. We join with all those who are saved in rejoicing at those who are saved. The joy of God is contagious. It is hard to see another person experiencing the joy of God and not respond with joy ourselves. Joy is a gift from God, but non believers use the word too. They think they are experiencing joy at things they do. But what they are experiencing is a poor imitation of what can only be given by God.
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