Joy in the Wilderness
This talk was given at CSF on October 10th, 2023, as a part of our Bible Words series.
Hi everyone. If you don’t know me, my name is Leah and I’m on staff here at CSF. I’ve been around this place since I was a freshman in college, and I just loved it so much, I never left. This place will always hold a special place in my heart, and it has brought me a lot of joy over the years. And that’s actually what I want to talk about: joy. Let me pray first.
God, we know that you’re here and that you speak to us. Please speak through me and let my words not be my own but yours. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
So what’s one thing that makes you instantly happy? Like you see it and it can make your day every time?
I have a list up here of things that make me really joyful.
Hanging out with my friends. I’m a quality time person, so spending time with the people I care about brings me a lot of joy. Sometimes I’ll just sit with my friends in silence, and that’s enough for me, but I really love good conversation with them and making jokes and being silly.
Rock climbing. I started climbing about a year and a half ago, and I’ve found that it brings a lot of joy into my life. Not only do I get to spend time with people even more, but I also get to take delight in strengthening my body and conquering my fears. I go to climbing club every Friday, and this Friday just happens to be my birthday, so you all should come :)
Sunshine. Especially when the sun’s rays are visible through clouds. Summer is my favorite season because it’s so sunny and warm (sometimes a little too warm, but that’s besides the point).
Water. Any natural body of water: the ocean, lakes, rivers, creeks, even puddles. Often on Saturdays, you’ll find me sitting next to the river downtown and just staring at the water rushing over the rocks. I like jumping in puddles, especially in a downpour (as long as I don’t have anywhere important to be where I might need to be dry).
Seeing horses anywhere, but especially driving. You know how people always point out cows when you drive by them. I do that too, but I do it louder when I see horses.
Cats. Specifically my cat mostly, but any cat will do. Especially kittens. They’re just so tiny! Which leads me to my next thing.
Anything really tiny. Those mini bottles of syrup from Cracker Barrel? Why are they so cute?
The Bible talks about a lot of different things that people find joy in, too. One of the main ones is beautiful and good things in creation: mountains, sunsets, sunrises, animals, trees, flowers, etc. After God created the world, and humans with it, He said it was “very good.” The Bible talks about weddings bringing joy. Children bring people joy. I know how many of y’all get so happy when Maya or Javi gives you attention. The Bible even talks about good smelling perfumes and sweet wine bringing joy. The world is full of good and wonderful things that we can find joy in.
But life’s not always full of joy, is it? There are also horrible and devastating things in life. The news and social media are full of tragedies around the world, hurting people, and discontentment. Family or friends die and accidents happen and people are mean and things don’t go our way or we feel like we just keep trying and trying and nothing gets better. Sometimes, nothing’s wrong but you’re sad anyway.
This summer was the first time in my life that I remember feeling sad for no reason. I have a hard time putting into words exactly how I was feeling. Something just felt wrong. It was also strange because it built so slowly that I can’t even pinpoint exactly when it started. I looked back through my prayer journal and found the first mention of feeling off at the end of March. After a week or so, I started praying about feeling restless and discontent and distracted. By the end of April, I was praying about feeling detached and uninterested in worship and Scripture. And by the end of the semester, I was getting frustrated with how I was feeling. I felt out of control of my life and discontent in what I was doing, and all I wanted was to lay in bed. I remember at the time, I thought I was just tired from end-of-semester things, so I let myself lay around in bed for a while. I was just so tired all the time, consumed with anxious thoughts about some things going on in my life and super distracted. I was tired of trying to live biblically when it felt like an impossible task. I was doubting God, including if He even existed, which I had never questioned before. Everything exhausted me.
Towards the end of May, I wrote this in my prayer journal: “I’m both motivated and unmotivated. I want to do so many things but I just can’t make myself do any of them. Or even contemplate doing them in any real way. Yet when I do nothing, I feel bad about myself and restless. But everything sounds exhausting. I sound depressed. When I think about you, Lord, I get confused. I don’t remember ever questioning you like this. And I don’t even know if I really am questioning you or if I’m just resisting obedience—putting in the work. Because I’m tired. And I just want to do my own thing. And I’m tired of feeling guilty when I don’t want to do your thing. Or when I do something you say is wrong. […] I’d rather be asleep right now. Why do I feel this way? I don’t want to feel this way.”
And at the end of June, with nothing in between, I wrote this: “The time passes slowly and quickly all at once. It doesn’t feel like it’s been three weeks since I talked to you. But it also feels like it’s been much longer. There is so much, as always.” And a few days later: “It’s so easy to stop praying these days. […] I often feel like I’m in darkness lately.”
I felt like I was in the wilderness, with no end in sight. I had no strength to go on. I would wake up fifteen minutes before I had to be somewhere and get back into bed as soon as I got home.
I was put on medication at the beginning of July, and by the end, I wrote: “I’m feeling better I think. I don’t know if that has to do with the medicine or not, but I’m grateful either way. It hasn’t felt so hard to do things.” My story was short-lived and has a quick happy ending, but not every wilderness story does. Some people’s wildernesses last their whole lives.
The Bible is also full of bad and horrible things that really hurt God’s people, bad situations or seasons and sometimes literal wildernesses that they had to wander through. The Hebrew people were enslaved and oppressed for 400 years before God rescued them. And even after He rescued them, they literally wandered the wilderness for 40 years before they made it to the Promised Land. God established their nation, set up a kingdom, but then the kingdom split because of strife and infighting and sin and brokenness. Enemies attacked them and sometimes overcame them. They were conquered and sent into exile for 70 years, and even when they went back to their land, they were still under oppressive nations, just waiting for God to send someone to rescue them, someone they called the Messiah. Jesus himself went through terrible suffering, betrayal, and sorrow. Jesus was so anxious in the garden before his death that he was sweating blood, which can happen when someone is in deep anguish. People in the early church were persecuted, stoned and tortured, exiled, thrown in prison, and executed in horrific ways.
How joyful.
What does the Bible say in response to this? There are a lot of different places I could take us, but let’s go to the book of Philippians.
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
The Bible commands us to rejoice. How can God say that? In the midst of so much suffering and pain and grief? But my circumstances aren’t the best or something horrible happened to me or I did something horrible or I feel tired or angry or discontent or sad— I just don’t feel happy so how can I rejoice? How can I be joyful in the midst of my wilderness?
Let’s take a look throughout the Bible and see how the Israelites responded to their suffering and wilderness seasons.
I mentioned earlier that the Hebrew people were enslaved and oppressed for 400 years before God rescued them and even then they wandered the desert for 40 years before they made it to the Promised Land. When God first rescued them, the first thing they did was sing for joy. They weren’t in happy circumstances yet. They were in the middle of the wilderness! Literally! But they looked back at what God had done (delivered them from slavery in Egypt) and looked forward to what He promised (giving them a land full of milk and honey), and they were joyful.
Many generations later, after they made it to the Promised Land, conquerors came and exiled them from that land, forcing them to assimilate and oppressing them. They cried out to God for deliverance, and they looked back at when He had delivered them before (from slavery in Egypt) and looked forward to when He would deliver them again (when He would send the promised Messiah), and they were joyful, giving thanks to God for what He did and what He promised to do.
Later, Jesus, that promised Messiah who came to rescue God’s people, knew that He was going to suffer, knew what had to be done to save the people (a horrific and painful death), but He still announced the arrival of the Kingdom of God with joy. Hebrews says in chapter twelve verse two that “For the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Jesus looked ahead to what was coming, toward what God promised, trusting that God would do what He said He would.
After Jesus’s ascension, the disciples and the early church faced a lot of persecution from Jewish religious leaders, getting hunted down, thrown in prison, tortured, and executed because they refused to stop sharing the gospel. And James says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Consider it joy.
The Greek word for joy is Xará. It’s related to the Greek word xáris or “grace”. Xará is translated as JOY, but more so means the awareness of and response to God’s grace, or “grace recognized.” Both of these words are derived from the root xar- “favor, disposed to, inclined, favorable towards, leaning towards to share benefit.” So grace is the Lord’s favor freely extended to give Himself away to people because He is “always leaning toward them.” Another related word is xaírō which means “rejoice because of grace.” You could say that xará is “joy because of grace.”
In other words, joy is less a feeling of happiness and more an attitude that God’s people adopt, not because of happy circumstances, but because of their hope in God’s love and promises.
We have hope in God’s love and what He has done (which was to offer us grace) and we hope and trust that He will do what He says He will (which is to continue to offer us grace eternally).
Joy is different from happiness. You don’t have to be happy with your circumstances or feel happy to be joyful. Happiness is fleeting, but joy is eternal. Biblical joy is a lasting emotion that comes from the choice to hope and trust that God will fulfill His promises.
If you were around CSF back in January and heard me speak about the word HOPE, you might remember the idea that hope is rooted in waiting. If you weren’t here then or don’t remember, just think about it: When we hope for something, we’re waiting for something to happen. In the Bible, the Israelites hoped and waited for God to rescue them, to send them the Messiah. Joy comes with that hope when we fully trust that the one who promised is trustworthy. That He’ll do what He said. It doesn’t come from happiness in our circumstances or whatever it is we’re feeling in the moment. It comes from God. Joy is both a gift of God, as well as a response to the gifts of God. Joy comes when we are aware of God’s grace and relish in His favor.
This is a hard thing to do. I’m not trying to discount that. And I’m not saying to ignore or suppress your feelings. That’s not healthy or necessary. Paul often expressed his grief about missing loved ones or losing friends or his own freedom. He called this “being full of sorrow and yet rejoicing” in his letter to the Corinthians. As he acknowledged his pain, he also made a choice to trust Jesus that his loss wouldn’t be the final word. The Psalms are full of laments and praises, often mixed together into the same poem or song.
So what does this mean practically then, if we’re not just ignoring our sorrow? We can turn back to Philippians and keep reading.
Philippians 4:4-8 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
I’ve pulled out a few practical steps from this passage to help us “choose joy,” as we might say. Because joy, unlike happiness, is a choice, a mindset, rooted in “grace recognized.” Joy because of God’s grace.
Which means that it takes practice. So here are some practices that can help us experience the Joy of the Lord, no matter what wilderness we’re in.
Practice #1: cultivate a habit of thankfulness/think about good things
You may have heard of the concept of a gratitude journal or something of the sort. I think that could be a great practice, but I don’t even think you have to take it that far. You can, of course, but if that sounds unappealing to you, just focus on reminding yourself of one thing you’re grateful for every evening. This is especially important on the hard days because it takes practice focusing on thankfulness when things are hard. But we’re shifting our attitude, choosing an attitude of joy, so it’s going to be hard at first.
Ruminating on the brokenness in your life is not going to bring you joy. Philippians tells us to think about things that are true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. Remind yourselves of the good things in your life. Focus on how God is moving in the world, what He’s done, and give Him praise for that. Like the Israelites did in the wilderness, sing for joy in the midst of every circumstance, even the bad ones.
And this doesn’t mean ignoring the hard things. I said earlier that it’s not healthy or necessary to suppress your emotions. You don’t have to ignore bad things to focus on the good. So then what do we do with them?
Practice #2: in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God (AKA, pray)
One of my favorite things about God is how much He cares for us. He is so big and infinite that we can’t even comprehend it and yet He loves us so much that He not only saved us but He invites us to tell Him everything even though He already knows just so we spend time with Him.
Pour out your heart to God. He wants you to. And He is trustworthy to continually give you grace now and forever. I told you all about my wilderness season and I read some bits and pieces from my prayer journal, where I was telling Him how I was feeling and basically complaining and questioning Him and life and everything in between. I’m not saying I did everything right, definitely not, but that’s what God invites us to do. Tell Him when you’re sad or when you feel stuck or when you fail a test or when your friend does something hurtful or whatever. Ask Him questions. Give Him your anger and your hurt and your grief. And He can and will meet you where you are. Which leads to the next practice.
Practice #3: abide in Jesus/put it into practice
Spend time with Jesus and obey Him. Paul says at the end of the passage in Philippians to put into practice what He has taught them. Jesus says something similar in John 15.
John 15:9-11 As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in His love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
The more you get to know Jesus and the Father, the more you’ll realize that His commands are good and for our good. And Jesus says clearly here that He wants us to obey Him so that our joy may be complete.
I’m taking a class this semester at my church called Gospel-formed, and it’s really cool. We’re going through the Gospel and what it means for our lives, how it forms us. Last week, we talked about our identity in Christ because of the Gospel, and one specific point stuck out to me. The pastor said, “Because of Jesus and the Gospel, I am ALIVE.”
At first, I was like, yeah, I’m alive because I was dead in my sins but God, rich in mercy, made me alive, yes, I love Ephesians 2. But then—he kept explaining it, and my pastor is so smart and so knowledgeable, it kind of feels like a fire hose being sprayed at you. I love it though. Anyway, he said that the life that Jesus gives us instead of death is eternal and abundant. Life being eternal speaks to what we’ve been talking about hoping in—we have hope because of the promises that God made to us, hope that He will do what He said. Because He said so. We’re promised an eternity with Him where there is no more suffering or pain or brokenness. But life being abundant—now that’s taking it one step further. That’s talking about the here and now as well as eternity. He said God rescues us so that we can engage all of life and live as God designed it when He created humanity and set Adam and Eve in the garden.
Jesus says in John 10:10 “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Isn’t that what we’re all longing for? Life to the full? I don’t know if you’ve realized it, but this world is not as it should be. God did not design the world with pain and sorrow and grief and brokenness. Sin brought that in. And we brought sin in. Sin makes promises that it can’t keep. Sin promises joy and satisfaction and never-ending comfort, but it is not trustworthy to deliver that to you.
But God is. Even when we went against Him, He did not give up on us, but did everything that He could to bring us back to Him, even going so far as to send His Son to die our death for us and defeat it on the third day so that we could have His life. And His life is full of joy. Hebrews 1 says that Jesus has been anointed with the oil of joy. He wants us with Him in that joy, like He said in John 15.
John 15:11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be complete.
Our joy is not some arbitrary happiness that can blow away in the wind. Its foundation is firm in the promises of God and He is faithful to keep them. And if we abide in the Lord, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, pour out our sorrows onto Him and make our requests known to Him with thanksgiving, then the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And we can have true joy and abundant life.
So when God commands us to “Rejoice” and we’re bogged down in circumstances or grief or anxiety, with reasons known or unknown, we can remind ourselves that “the Lord is near,” as it says in Philippians 4:5. Joy is meant to be a hallmark of a Christian’s life. It’s a fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, etc) and it’s a gift from God. We best receive this gift when we cultivate thankfulness and think about good things, when we pour our hearts out to God in prayer, and when we abide in Jesus and do what He says. It’s not always easy. But you don’t have to do it alone. There is a great community here at CSF; anyone on staff or any of our student leaders would be great at encouraging you and helping you pursue true joy in Jesus.
Let me pray for you and bless you.
Jesus, we love you and we thank you for all that you have done for us. Help us to keep our eyes fixed on you so that you can transform us to be more like your Son, so that we can experience life to the fullest. Give us an attitude of thanksgiving and joy as we go from this place and may you get all the glory. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Romans 15:13 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Thank you.
