The Joy of the Lord- How Great is Our God- TUESDAY

As I write this exhortation to you, I am listening to Cece Winans' version ofHow Great is Our God.  As if on que, I am led to understand the amazing personal benefit it is to me to simply praise my Savior, my King, my God.  This worship takes me to a land far away called Heaven on Earth.  Somehow everything else fades from my concern, and God takes my burdens from me.  It is in this place that I feel the invincibility of God all around me.  I see Him as He is.  I see and feel His beauty, His glory, and His love for me.  Indeed, I see How Great is My God.  This makes me want to release anything that keeps me from coming closer to Him and keeps me away from just being with Him.  Anger, bitterness, wounds, fears, they all fade behind me as if by His permission and urging to let them go, I do.  As they fall away, I feel as if I am unshackled from a heavy weight of oppression.  I see the importance of letting them go even more.  They have held me back, and I do not want to be held back anymore.  Do any of you feel this way?  Do you want to have the junk and garbage removed from your life so that you can come closer to your Daddy, your Shepherd King and find His comfort and love?

As I move to my next thought, I hear Michael W. Smith take me to another place with his song Breathe.  Do you remember the words?  "I'm desperate for You.  I'm lost without You, Lord."  God is showing me everywhere I look and every song I hear that my greatest need is not joy, but it is Christ Himself.  He is the Feast in the Inner Chamber.  He has prepared a banquet table for me to take a bite and move closer to Him.  I think, "Who needs joy when I have Him?"   But in saying this I understand what was missing in my pursuit of joy.  He is sharing His joy with me for He is delighted in me.  He is calling me like my Mama did when I was a child, "Come and get it!" for He loves to love on His child.

I think the people standing before Ezra when he read from the Book of the Law, which was possibly the first time for most of them, had both a reason to cry and a reason to rejoice.  These people had been exiles.  But they were now home.  Their walls were rebuilt, they had an identity again and they were listening to the Book of the Law.  It should have been a time of rejoicing, but they were weeping.  I ask why this is happening and I think it is because they had heard about the magnificence of Israel from stories handed down through generations.  They had heard of David and Solomon.  They had heard of the magnificence of Solomon's Temple.  They had heard of Abraham, Isaac, Joseph and Moses.  They had heard of the exodus from Egypt, as God formed His people to be a witness to the world around them.  These forefathers were given the same Law that was being read to them that day.  God had given the generations before them priests to help them understand the implications of God's written word.  They now had priests to help them understand as well.  They saw the remnants of Israel and it caused them to ask, "Why?"  Then they heard the Law read and they heard, "You shall have no other gods before ME."  You shall not make idols."  You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain".... and they wept.

But God loves repentance and restoration, and this is why we see the Levites tell the people, "do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength." When we come to understand through repentance and tears that we see things God's way, the restoration follows, and joy is around the corner.  This is what happened with these people, as God began to embrace them into His arms.  All was forgiven, and that was enough to celebrate.  But there is more, for joy is a comin!!