Defiant Joy

It’s been a hard year. A really hard year.

Death, loss, betrayal, financial pressure, and uncertainty have swirled together to create a vortex of overwhelming heaviness. Lord, it’s too much! Where are You in all this mess?

Photo credit: Neenu Vimalkumar (Unsplash)

You’ve been there, haven’t you? You know such heavy seasons of grief and confusion. Perhaps, like me, even now you’re in such a season.

Do you ever wonder what’s happening, what’s really going on? Of course, we all do! And yet answers are so often elusive. But in such seasons of heaviness, we can know at least one thing for sure:

The thief is trying to break into your soul and steal your joy.

Jesus taught us that “the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy” (John 10:10a). Without a doubt, one of the greatest treasures we possess is the joy that Jesus has given us. “I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:11). There is little the enemy fears more than our joy, and that is why he is so relentless in trying to take it from us.

Let’s make a crucial distinction between happiness and joy:
Happiness is directly related to our circumstances. When things go well for us, we feel happy. When we suffer loss, we feel sadness. Since life is filled with ups and downs, both happiness and sadness are a routine part of our experience.
Biblical joy, on the other hand, ultimately has NOTHING to do with our circumstances and EVERYTHING to do with living life with our loving God who is always with us. This is why the Bible exhorts us to “rejoice always” (1 Thessalonians 5:16), “rejoice in the Lord always” (Philippians 4:4), and even “rejoice in our sufferings” (Romans 5:3, James 1:2). Since joy is not dependent on the goodness of our circumstances, but on the ever-faithful goodness of our God, the joy of Jesus is always available to us.

The enemy is not afraid of our happiness. In fact, he’s very capable of using happiness and bounty to lure our hearts away from dependence on God (Proverbs 30:8-9, Luke 12:13-21).

But Satan is terrified of our joy. For a believer who takes joy in the loving presence of God even in the midst of disappointment, loss, and suffering is a powerful witness to the transformational grace of God. Such a person is a real threat to the domain of darkness, and therefore must be violently opposed (“steal, kill, and destroy”).

How, then, does the enemy try to steal our joy? He certainly can’t separate us from the love of Christ (Romans 8:38-39), which he knows all too well is the fountain of our joy. So if he can’t pry us away from Jesus’ loving embrace, what is left for him to do?

His one remaining tactic is to bring difficult circumstances into our lives, and try to deceive us into believing that our unhappiness (our normal human sadness over our disappointments and losses) is actually cause for joylessness (because we despair that God either doesn’t really love us, or He’s not fully with us in our trials).

Did you notice how this played out in my life as I described in the beginning? As cruel as Satan was in each scenario (death, loss, betrayal, financial pressure, uncertainty), my grief isn’t his end game. His real intent is to separate you and me from the joy of deeply connecting with the loving presence of God in those trials. Lord, it’s too much! Where are You in all this mess? He knows that he can’t touch the objective reality behind our joy – God’s faithful, loving companionship. But he can and often does steal our joyful experience of that truth.

Proverbs 4:23 says, “Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it.” So how do we guard our heart when the thief tries to break in and steal our joy? When you feel under assault from evil, remembering and holding onto the following three truths about joy can make all the difference:

Joy is God’s gift to us in the person of Jesus. Jesus doesn’t just give us gifts like peace, hope, and joy. The Scripture makes it clear that He Himself is our peace, hope, and joy! If we have Jesus in our heart, His joy is always in our heart, ready to gush out no matter the circumstances.

Therefore, joy is always a choice. The resurrection, ascension, and sending of the Spirit certify that NOBODY (not the world, not the devil, not our worst enemy) has the power to take our joy away against our will (John 16:22-24). Because joy is God’s irrevocable gift constantly available to us in the person of Jesus, we always have the opportunity to choose joy, no matter how difficult our circumstances.

Joy is an act of defiance against evil. Do you know what makes demons quiver with fear and rage? When they’ve hit us with their malicious worst, and we’re still worshipping Jesus. When they’ve spewed their venomous cruelty on us, and yet we’re finding peaceful refuge in the shadow of His wings. When they’ve done all they could to separate us from God’s love, and yet we’re turning our eyes upon Jesus, looking full in His wonderful face.

There is something deeply strengthening to my own faith when I choose the joy of Jesus over the heaviness of the enemy in seasons of trial. For when I look evil in the face, say “Jesus wins, you lose”, and live life in my Savior’s arms, I realize that the joyful faith I’ve been given is steady, sure, and built to survive any onslaught. The trial which was meant to tear me down has actually resulted in building me up, all praise to God.

Spiritual warfare is real, oh so real. And the enemy’s attacks are truly painful, aren’t they? Do you want to join me in doing something about it? In the grace and power of Christ, we can! Let’s defy and defeat evil by making the simple yet profound choice to choose joy no matter what we’re facing today.

Written by: Don Reynard

Becoming Wonder-full

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