1 "You will say in that day: I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me, your anger turned away,
and you comforted me. 2 Surely God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid, for the Lord God
is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation.
3 With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.
4 And you will say in that day: Give thanks to the Lord,
call on his name; make known his deeds among the nations;
proclaim that his name is exalted. 5 Sing praises
to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be known
in all the earth. 6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, O royal Zion,
for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel."
This passage of scriputre and the accompanying lesson materials I was given to teach were all about Joy. As I was reading these materials I thought, "Well, how do you teach about Joy?" Joy is something that you just have, how do you examine it? Joy will be different for different people: how can you come up with some overarching lesson that could possibly touch on each unique experience? The topic of Joy feels like a large whale, there is so much to see or things you could say.
I wrestled with all of these questions unable to get any answers until I read the following story in David C. Cook's Bible Lesson Commentary: The Essential Study Companion for Every Disciple. Which included lessons/commentary from September 2012 - August 2013. As I read the following story from that book and I will admit that I did not get all the direct answers I was looking for, but I was set on the path to find them.
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The image can be almost too familiar, even cliche: "Light in the midst of darkness." Nevertheless, this important theme shines throughout Scripture--from creation, with God's "Let there be light" (Gen. 1: 3), to the concluding future promise of a new Jerusalem with no need of lamp or sun, for the "Lord God giveth them light" (Rev. 22:5).
So why is it that believers can be so slow to look for God's light of "salvation" (Isa. 12:2) in the midst of darkness? Why do they often resemble foolish mariners, thinking they've become familiar enough with the sea that they should be able to navigate their tiny ships of faith through life's stormy waters themselves?
"Who needs a lighthouse?" some believers boast. "I know where I'm headed!" others retort. But what is their tune when those dark clouds of despair and driving storms of personal tragedy start tossing them around like pieces of paper on the turbulent waves of life? Think about it: How would we react if we saw a lighthouse's brilliant shaft slice through such darkness? Most of us would rightly expect estatic relief and joy. If ever there was a case of the proverbial "light at the end of the tunnel," this would be it!
So, what is it that we're looking for? The believers' final destination is eternal glory with God. And the guiding light is the promise of salvation found in His Word (see Isa. 12: 2-3). Mature spiritual vision has to be developed in order to be consistently joyful in difficulites. But it begins with a first glance from the mayhem around us and up to the horizon, especially toward the shores of God's new world. There's no doubt that Isaiah saw such "excellent things" (v. 5) and urged God's people to proclaim them in "all the earth."
(Emphasis added)
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SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT.....
Joy comes from within you, each of us in our own lives feel joy differently. What I intially failed to comprehend in my own life is that when you think about Joy: don't think about Joy (an ironic statement I know), but think about where Joy comes from: Joy has to come from somewhere! Appreciate the struggles you went through, the trials you faced because then you understand what it means to offer God Joy because in the end it was God who saw you through it all: like a lighthouse.
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