That verse has always been a favorite of mine.
It's found in Nehemiah 8:10.
It was when Nehemiah gathered the Children of Israel who had returned from 70 years of captivity in Babylon.
He basically said, "Okay lets take a break and sit down and have a bible study" And they started reading the words of the law to the people.
When they heard to Word of God they started weeping. I suppose they realized how far they had gone astray during their time in Babylon.
Then Nehemiah told them, "Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our LORD: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
"The Joy of the Lord is your strength". That's a beautiful promise. But other day I started to see that phrase in a slightly different light.
I had always thought that I needed to be joyful and praise the Lord and then I would have strength. Well, there may be a time and a place for that, but what came to me was the part, "the joy of the LORD!" - It's not necessarily YOUR joy, it's His joy!
It's not something you have to work up in order to get. It's available for free! Like salvation, you just say "Yes, thank you, I take it, I accept it!"
And there is plenty of it, not just buckets or barrels but rivers of joy cascading freely from the reservoirs of Heaven.
I am such an idiot! I am always thinking that in order to show my love I have to prove it by my accomplishments. I have to do something to show how much I love my better half. But in reality that's just like making bedroom slippers and neglecting just sitting down and being there for her. Being there with her, listening and loving.
As with the Lord; sitting at His feet and looking up in His face, listening to what He has to say, Then the joy come flowing in freely and that is when you get the strength to go on one more day in this weary World.
Just one day at the time, as in "Give us this day our daily bread..."
No need to worry about tomorrow. "Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof." Matthew 6:34
"...for the joy of the LORD is your strength."
