I never fully understood analogies using birth until I saw one. As a nursing student, we are required to watch on video (and encouraged to see live) a birth. I’ll spare you the details, but I will say it was certainly life-changing. My class was on the edge of their seats, hearing a woman’s cries, watching the doctors scramble, and witnessing the father stand in the corner, trying not to get in the way. If you had looked around our classroom, you would have seen a mixture of confusion, fear, and shielded eyes. Our professor said she always enjoyed watching students see the video for the first time. We were no exception.
Not only did this new experience give me even more respect for mothers (seriously you guys are amazing), but it also gave me new eyes to see biblical analogies. In particular, John 16 became a lot more clear.
Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
(John 16:20-24)
That doesn’t sound very pleasant. So what is Jesus saying about joy in following Him? Jesus literally says above that we will “weep and lament.” Is joy even an option then? Where is the joy in the midst of a sorrowful, labor-filled life?
Whose Joy?
“…And do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
(Nehemiah 8:9–12)
Now you may be thinking, “Caitlyn, this is nowhere close to the passage we just read.” And you’d be very right. The book of Nehemiah features a man (you’ll never guess his name) who led the last of three returns by the Israelites from exile. The Israelites had returned to their home and were trying to rebuild things as they were. In this particular chapter, Ezra, a scribe of Israel who had returned earlier, is reading the Law.
If you are unfamiliar with the Law, let me tell you, it’s a doozy. The Law provided the imperfect, prone-to-mistakes Israelites with a way to have a relationship with a perfect, loving God. The Law allowed the Israelites to be in God’s perfect presence.
Well, like with anyone and a set of rules, the Israelites weren’t too great at following these. Add that to the fact that this generation of Israelites may have never even heard the Law, and you have a recipe for a zero on this test. And the Israelites knew that. It says that “the people wept as they heard the words of the Law” (Nehemiah 8:9). They knew they had failed. They knew they could not be in God’s presence because of their mistakes.
But what Nehemiah and Ezra say next is shocking.
“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.”
(Nehemiah 8:10)
Um, what? Didn’t they know that the Israelites had really messed up? Didn’t they know that the presence of God cannot stand imperfection? They did understand all this, but they also understood who their God was.
The joy Nehemiah 8 talks about is not the joy of the Israelites. It’s not their ability to conjure up this intense joy in God. It is not a joy based on their ability to follow the Law fully. The joy is God’s. In Hebrew, the words for “joy” and “God” indicate God as the possessor of that joy. He is a Joyous God.
Okay, so the joy is God’s. But how does that relate to us? God has joy, but is this something that we can have?
What God Wants
“Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.”
(John 16:24)
In the chapter before John 16 (John 15 in case you were wondering), Jesus talks about how we are to rest in and stay connected to Him. Jesus tells us that He loves us just as the Father loves Him and then invites us to rest in that love (John 15:9). Just like in Nehemiah, Jesus is reminding us of the loving kindness and grace of the Father. At the end of the passage, He explains why He has told us all of this:
“These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.”
Again, we see that God is a joyous God. But we also see here that He wants us to have HIS joy. He tells us of His love and forgiveness so we can have full joy. In the presence of His love, we can have this fullness of joy (Psalm 16:11).
This joy of God is not based on our performance but on His goodness and mercy. God delights in us (Zeph. 3:17) because He is incredibly merciful. Nehemiah and Ezra knew this. And when the Israelites confess their mistakes in the next chapter, countless times do they praise God for His mercy and love (Nehemiah 9). Through drawing near to God, they found a joy that washed away all their previous sorrow.
Jesus knows this. And that is why He encourages us to ask for this joy from God. This joy from God is never based on our perfection but on Jesus’s sacrifice. This sacrifice offers coverage over all mistakes, for all time, and for all people, completely forgiving every broken law. All we must do is come to Him in surrender.
So God wants us to have joy, and we know that when we ask according to His will we receive (1 John 5:14). But often when we ask, we don’t have immediate joy – or at least I don’t. Again, Jesus makes it clear that no matter how hard we may try to escape it, weeping and lamenting, despair and sorrow, are inevitable. When this happens, what do we turn to?
The Joy Right Around the Corner
“You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy… and no one will take your joy from you.”
(John 16:20, 22)
What I neglected to mention about watching that birth was the ending. When the baby finally came, when the mom made it to the end and received her precious child, I – and many others – had tears in our eyes. Why? Because of the great joy she had. It seemed as if the pain, grief, and frustration all were wiped away when the baby rested on her chest. Looking into the face of her child, she couldn’t help but smile, and the shocked students watching on couldn’t help but do the same.
In the same way, there is a birth that has allowed us to have great joy, the birth of Jesus (Luke 2:10). This joy is not temporary or only for this life. This joy is eternal. In this world, we will experience sorrow, pain, and suffering. But one day we will only experience joy. We won’t be asking Jesus for joy because we will be experiencing it with Him face to face (John 16:23).
But right now, during this hard “birthing” season, we can still experience joyful, abundant life (John 10:10). We can know that even when we do not take joy in God, He still takes joy in us. His love covers all. In this, we take refuge and strength (Nehemiah 8:10). We must fix our eyes on Jesus, the great treasure and prize. We will see Him again forever. We are forgiven forever. We will have His joy forever. And in that way, our joyous God is the strength for His saddened people.
Resources
- When I Don’t Desire God by John Piper
- Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure by Martin Llyod Jones
- 1 Peter 1:3-9
- Revelation 21
Overwhelmed 