Gladness

Cheerfulness, joy, gladness, pleasure, are words which are not used in the life of faith. We use them often in the realm of the world because they are more particularly suited to this earthly life.

It would be good to think a bit more about the concept of cheerfulness. It is a strong feeling of contentment, a being in a pleasant mood.

If we are honest, we must admit that we often think these matters are not compatible with the life of faith. We hear very little spoken — almost nothing — of spiritual gladness. Therefore, it is good to read God’s Word carefully in order to learn what it says about it.

When we read the Bible — and we must always do that — then we find that grace is a source of happiness. It gives joy and gladness. God’s grace wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit is an inexhaustible well of joy.

True joy is found only with the people of the Lord, who live by and out of the grace of God. There can be no true joy when we do not belong to the people of God. The so-called joy of the world is not true joy; it is only apparent joy. There is much merriment in the world, but that means nothing. It is impossible to live in sin and be truly happy at the same time. True happiness is the portion that the Lord gives to His people.

The fountain of that happiness is life with the Lord. Broken communion is healed by grace. The Lord, through Christ, is the only fountain of true joy. We must seek again and again to find joy in the Lord.

In the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 33, question 90 asks, “What is the quickening of the new man?” “It is a sincere joy of heart in God, through Christ, and with love and delight to live according to the will of God in all good works.”

We sometimes ask ourselves: Where is that joy in the life of God’s children? It seems as if that has become a strange language. We hear more about sadness and lack, complaints, doubts, and darkness; in general, true joy is missing.

Perhaps someone will remark that the Bible also speaks about sadness, lack, seeking, doubting, grief, trouble, and tears. Indeed, that is true, but we must not forget that having joy does not exclude sadness. These two, sadness and joy, belong together; they are two links of the same chain.

Again I refer you to Lord’s Day 33, question 88; “Of how many parts doth the true conversion consist?” “Of two parts; of the mortification of the old, and the quickening of the new man.” And the mortification of the old man is a sincere sorrow of heart that we have provoked God by our sins.

If we separate these two things, and if we stay with sorrow and never experience that sincere joy of heart in God through Christ, then we are only “half-converted;” we are deceiving ourselves. Then the true conversion is not experienced; but it is only a sorrow of the world that works death.

Let everyone search his own heart and life. It often causes sadness if, when anyone speaks of joy in the Lord, such a one’s faith is suspected to not be genuine. It seems as if there is the opinion that it is wrong or impossible to rejoice in the Lord. That is a dangerous tendency among us. People often think and speak as if the more we talk about our misery and our sadness, the more converted we are. But that is not according to God’s Word. Life lies not in our misery; sadness is not happiness. We may not turn these matters around.

Do not misunderstand me, as if I am saying that the life of faith knows no sorrow or strife. No, certainly not! These matters are real in the life of God’s children. I want to say it very plainly: However great our grief which God sends in our life may be, and however we may grieve because of our sin and corruption that always cleaves to us, joy may, can, and must be there also. As often as we are privileged to live by faith in communion with the Lord through Christ, spiritual joy shall fill our heart. Shall not our heart leap for joy in the Lord when Christ reveals Himself in His mediatorial works as Prophet, King, and Priest? Shall not our heart be glad in the Lord when we may taste something of the reconciling power of the precious blood of Christ and when the Lord shows us that His grace is sufficient in the midst of oppression, cares, trials, and strife? Indeed, our heart leaps for joy when the Lord by His Word and Spirit leads us into the mediatorial ministry of Christ, and shows us that He has paid everything and has finished what had to be done. We rejoice when we by faith may lay our hands upon His finished mediatorial work and may learn that He of God is made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.

Read Habakkuk 3:17–19, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat;…and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and He will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and He will make me to walk upon mine high places.” Do you not see that sadness and joy are not mutually exclusive, but are bound to each other? “What God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”

It is pleasing to the Lord that He is served by His people with gladness and joy. “Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before His presence with singing” (Ps. 100).

Before Jesus went the way of sorrow He instructed His disciples in the way of faith. He spoke of sorrow and joy in John 16:20–22: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.

“A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.”

The children of God may and must rejoice in the grace of God, in the work of the Holy Spirit, in the remission of sins through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because of God’s work in them they may be heartily glad with an inward and unspeakable joy.

If we do not know that joy, we thereby show that we do not know of the work of Christ in our heart, and that we are strangers to spiritual life. Then we reveal that we have found our life outside of Christ, in the knowledge of our misery and in doing the works of the law in our own strength, building our salvation upon them.

But where life is found in Christ by the Holy Spirit, there is also spiritual joy. And we may express that joy. We read in Luke 1:46,47, “And Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.”

Let us pour out our complaints, tears, sighs, condemnations of self, and our griefs — in the quietness of our inner chamber — between the Lord and our soul. But let your joy in the Lord be heard outside of the inner chamber by the young people. Speak of the real joy you may experience in the Lord and in His work. Bring good tidings of the King and His kingdom. Then there could be jealousy for it.

Tell them whom the Lord has been for you, what the precious Mediator has done for you, and what great joy filled your heart when He revealed Himself to you. “Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord” (John. 20:20). The Lord was with them, and that was their joy.

What can be the reason that we hear so little or nothing at all of joy in the Lord? We may not lay the blame upon the Lord, but must seek it in ourselves. There is one thing that robs us of our joy, and that is sin. Our sins make a separation in our life and in our communion with God. Think of the sin of Zacharias when he rejected God’s message in unbelief. Think of the sins of David, Hezekiah, Peter, and others.

If we cherish sin and retain secret sins, the Lord will hide His kindly face. How then can we be truly happy? God does not allow a careless manner of life to go unpunished. Even confessed and forgiven sins can dampen our joy and cast a shadow upon our life. Paul could not forget that he had persecuted the church of Jesus. The wound that sin has caused may be healed, but the scars can cause much pain.

It seems as if there is the opinion that it is wrong or impossible to rejoice in the Lord. That is a dangerous tendency among us. People often think and speak as if the more we talk about our misery and our sadness, the more converted we are.

Also denying the work of God in our soul can prevent our partaking of the joy of faith. Also when we do not faithfully use the means of grace such as the preaching of the Word and the sacraments, we will miss that joy. When our prayers are prayerless, we also miss that joy. When the disciples had seen Jesus ascend to heaven, we read in Luke 24:52, “And they worshipped Him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy.” And they were all with one accord in one place in Jerusalem. Also conformity to the world disrupts the joy in the Lord. Then we are no more a stranger on the earth, but we have found pleasure in temporal things.

Dear reader, the question comes to us all: Are we truly converted? Do we know anything of heartfelt sorrow because of the wrath of God for our sins, and the heartfelt joy in God through Christ? Search your heart, your life, your conversion. Can your life pass the test of God’s Word? Is your conversion a biblical conversion? Soon death will come, and we must all appear before the judgment seat of God, and what judgment shall He pass on you? “Come in,” or “Depart”?

Only they who by the grace of God know something of that sorrow of heart and a sincere joy of heart shall enter the joy of their Lord. That joy in the Lord has its beginnings here on earth.

Again I refer you to that precious book of comfort, the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord’s Day 22, question 58: “What comfort takest thou from the article of ‘life everlasting’?” “That since now I feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy, after this life, I shall inherit perfect salvation, which ‘eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man’ to conceive, and that, to praise God therein forever.”

It is surprising how often God’s Word speaks of joy in the Lord. I will mention just a few texts — mostly from the book of Psalms. Some have said that in the book of Psalms we look into the hearts of God’s children.

Will you read and meditate with me?:

Psalm 4:7: “Thou has put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.”

Psalm 76:9, 11: “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.”

Psalm 32: 11: “Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.”

Psalm 48:11: “Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because of Thy judgments.”

Psalm 51:12: “Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation; and uphold me with Thy free Spirit.”

Psalm 53:6: “Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When God bringeth back the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.”

Psalm 64:10: “The righteous shall be glad in the Lord, and shall trust in Him; and all the upright in heart shall glory.”

Psalm 68:3: “But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice.”

Psalm 69:32a: “The humble shall see this, and be glad.”

I could mention many more texts, but let these suffice.

Here, my dear readers, you look into the heart of God’s children. That is the reason why Jesus spoke so often to His disciples: “These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full” (John 15:11). And Paul says in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”

Dear readers, are you a bit tired of all these texts? I hope you have read them all and compared your life with them. I think we all need to be shown that it is true that the life of a child of God is also a life of rejoicing in the Lord.

I cannot refrain from giving you one more text: “Neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength… And there was very great gladness” (Nehe-miah 8:10,17).

I hope and pray that you may experience what David says in Psalm 30: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.”

Rev. H. Hofman is pastor of the Netherlands Reformed Congregation of Sioux Center, Iowa.

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