And the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, seeing you are not sick? This is nothing but zsadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid. (Nehemiah 2:2)
What did we think would come next? After our morning offering:
“Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might; heaven and earth are filled with Your glory?”
Now . . . bowing? Scripture reading? Silence? More worship?
Good idea! Great idea! Oh, we will practice all of the above, but first . . . dear ones . . . first . . . let us find joy!
Before anything else, before we open our Bibles or even fall on our knees, unless we can do both, simultaneously, let us find joy. Let us not bring a morose, defeated, self-referential heart before our God this morning.
Remember Nehemiah? Cup-bearer to the king? He bore the weight of the destruction of a nation in the fullness of his heart, but he TREMBLED to bring sorrow and dejection into the presence of the potentate. We can learn from Nehemiah! Yes, we mourn with those who mourn, and the Holy Spirit prays with groanings that cannot be uttered (more about that to come,) but our God is not mourning … His Son has returned to His right hand, leading captivity captive! (Psalm 68:18)
Let’s find JOY, and see where it takes us at break of day!
Derrynfian Chalice
Kglavin, Wikipedia, by permission
Cor Unum Abbey 