Psalm 32:11
Be glad in the LORD, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.

What other greater and fuller joy can we know than the one that comes from God Himself?  If we rejoice in Him, we will never again lack something to rejoice about.  Let’s not focus on the dim and darkening life around us, but look up, and then we will find the source of our joy.  And He is with us every moment, so we need not cease to rejoice.

This short psalm gives just a few of the reasons to rejoice in the Lord.  He gives us forgiveness from our sin, and that alone has a potent power to lift that great burden off our shoulders and pull that brokenness from our hearts.  It should give us a new lightness and relief to know our sins cannot be held against us, and He, our great God, has cast them far from us through the blood atonement of Christ.

And He offers not just a refuge in spiritual warfare from sin and its effects, but He is our hiding place.  He is our source of protection and strength.  We don’t have to go out alone, armed with self-sufficiency and the weak armor of pride.  But we can rest in Him as He goes forth mighty in battle to overcome all that would oppress us and seek our hurt.  He is a resting place for us in all our weariness when we simply need the close comfort of the one who is love Himself.  He will keep us safe and guide us and help us through any situation.

He gives us wisdom from His Word.  And isn’t it pure joy just to know Him and to know about Him?  Let’s look at the God painted in Scripture and see Him ministering with tender compassion in the person of Jesus Christ and understand that He is that same God still ministering to our own hearts because we are precious to Him.  He gives us guidance for life, answers to our questions, and solutions to our problems.

And cannot our hearts skip a beat with joy to know He will generously provide all our needs, that we can approach Him with a familial greeting of Abba and share our hearts with the God of the universe, that He longs to draw us closer to Him and that is the same place we most long to be?  Does not His mercy and His grace flood our souls with the sweetest kind of joy that is long-lasting and not counterfeit like the temporary joy that comes from worldly things?  There is no lack in Him, and when we look to Him for our joy, when we rejoice in Him, when we are glad in the Lord, then our joy can’t help but be full.  So let’s have that joy.  Let’s claim it as our own and hold it close in our hearts and then shout it out in praise of the giver of joy Himself.