This is a very interesting verse that has a different meaning for me now. I have been reflecting on it lately and the following are my thoughts on it. But before I start, I want to clarify some points.
- The Joy is the Lord's (John 15:11)
- His Joy is our strength
- Any Joy we have comes from the Lord (John 15:11)
I say this because I don't want anyone to think that joy that we experience cannot give us strength (I used to think this). The joy that we receive is the Lord's and thus it is our strength. Knowing this makes such a big difference in my understanding of the verse and it's application to me. It seemed too far out before and I never really understood how the joy of God could strengthen me until I understood how his joy is in me.
Lately, things have been difficult for me and yet simultaneously easy. I feel almost like a hypocrite because everyday I am full of such joy and cannot help but smile and laugh. Yet, I have been feeling heartbroken. Most days I cry, and not tears of happiness (though there have been those too). It goes something like this. Cry my heart out to God, be calmed and given peace, and 30 minutes later full of Joy. I am sure most people who interacted with me would not have had a clue that I cried that morning or the previous night.
I say all this because I wonder if this is not how God intended it to be? The Joy that God has been giving me has most definitely sustained me; strengthened me. I tended to think that having struggles or suffering means being without Joy. But now, I am not so sure. God wants to give us joy (John 16:24). So, if he wants to give us joy, then struggling does not mean it gets taken away.
Whenever we go through a hard time it doesn't mean we have to be miserable. Things have been hard for me, but I find myself more overwhelmed by his joy than by sadness. There is sadness, though, and each day I must put my trust in God, but then there is joy. I am sad and full of joy at the same time. There has been a struggle, but I do not feel overwhelmed by it and know that I WILL overcome it.
As opposed to the past, when I have felt completely helpless, almost hopeless, because my trust was not in the Lord. We make things much more difficult on ourselves by not putting our trust in God and by simply not seeking him. If the Lord blesses and helps us when we are disobedient; how much more will he if we do obey?
Now, I don't know if next time I go through a trial I will have this same kind of experience. I don't hear many people with testimonies like mine, which makes me wonder. I wonder if people are simply not trusting and obeying or if this is just a unique experience. I tend to lean towards the former. I have looked up many verses on suffering and joy and they all seem to say that the two go together (James 1:2-4; Hab 3:18-19; Rom 5:3-5; 1 Peter 4:13).
There are too many verses about being joyful regardless of our circumstances (Phil 4:4), about trusting God (Proverbs 3:5), about how great God is (Psalm 62:11), about peace that he gives (John 14:27), and about his love and care for us (John 3:16; Psalm 62:12) for me to believe that he wants us to be in pain all the time. For me to believe that he wants to take away our joy when things get hard. In reality, if our joy seems to have disappeared when things got hard, it's probably because we never had his joy to begin with; only a false sense of it.