Soul Joy!

April 8, 2021

Soul Joy!

You are indispensable! 

You feel so necessary, so important, and so essential that no one can fill your place at work or at home or on the team.  You are so convinced of your role and your value that there is no room left to step back, step aside, or step down.  You just keep running and rushing and racing through each day, each week, and each year. 

Almost without knowing, you have put your awesome self, your successful self, and your busy self in the place of God.  You live a life with no space to rest and refresh in the Lord’s presence.  You live a life with no time to step into the margins to revive and restore in the Lord’s still place.  You might be living a life with no joy.

Be indispensable long enough and your soul will quickly be lacking in joy.  The signs are clear; laughter is infrequent, play is rare, and relationships are shallow.  Oh, there is plenty of excitement and energy and exhilaration every day.  But when we live indispensable lives, the things that matter most are skimmed over or quietly slip by.

A few weeks ago, I was visiting with someone about a mutual friend who had passed from this life to their home in heaven.  The more we talked the more fragile my emotions became.  My voice was cracking and my eyes were filled with tears; I was grieving the loss of our friend.

I excused myself and stepped away from the conversation; I needed a time-out from the intense emotions!  I began to realize that I had been living too long like I was necessary or important or essential.  It also became quite clear that I was wrong. 

I was wrong because I was pretty short on joy.  Time to share an iced tea with a friend was too infrequent.  Time to play with a child was too limited.  Time to listen for the voice of Jesus was filled with too many distractions.  I was short on soul-joy.

My soul longs to be near the heart of Jesus.  When I allow myself the space and time to be near the Savior, joy fills and floods my heart.  It is important to remember my soul longs for joy. 

In Psalm 84:2 we hear; “My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart (soul) and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.”  My soul longs for the joy that comes when I am near the heart of Jesus.

The challenge is that I have to first set aside my own self-importance.  I begin by admitting to myself and to the Lord God that I am not indispensable, I am not all that necessary, and I am not quite as important as I have convinced myself.    

This confession opens the door to experience the Lord as the one who is indispensable, the one who is most important, and the one who is absolutely necessary.  In that moment, I become open to the Lord’s presence and joy begins to fill and flood my soul.

Soul-joy flows out of being in the presence of Jesus and choosing to worship Jesus as my Savior.  In Psalm 71:23 we hear; “My lips will shout for joy when I sing praises to you; my soul also, which you have rescued.”

Before I worship Jesus, it is important to humble my heart.  I humble my heart when I admit again that I am not indispensable and necessary.  Jesus says there is only one thing that is necessary; to love the Lord God with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength. 

When I remove myself from God’s place and make time to worship Him, my soul will be filled with amazing joy.  In those moments of worship and praise, my heart will take delight in the Lord God.  Today, I invite you to let the Lord be God so you don’t have to be.  There you will discover soul-joy.

Take delight in the Lord!

Doug