What’s the connection between joy and strength in God’s world? We all need strength, but what’s joy got to do with it? Is it important for us today? Well, I think it probably would be. We all need strength and joy is sometimes hard to find in our world. 

So, I saw this verse on a calendar that Elaine had in our kitchen. I’d forgotten about it, and as I looked into it, I saw something I’d been needing for a long time. So, let’s dig into it and be enriched by it. 

I think where to start here is with the context. Nehemiah is a book about Israel’s return to Jerusalem after they had been captured by the Babylonians, and had been in captivity for 70 years. What that means is, that given the shorter lifespan of people back then – especially slaves – almost all the people that had gone into captivity had died. So, these people who are returning were, for the most part, the children of those who had been taken captive. While they were in captivity, they had a very hard time following their religious beliefs and communicating with each other, I think, and so the law of God was not a part of their thinking so much. It was something they had heard about, but not seen. 

So, the reason God had allowed them to be taken captive was because of some terrible things they did. They kings had, for the most part, departed from God to serve the pagan gods around them. Some of the ways they worshipped these gods were sick – child sex trafficking, for religious rites was a common thing. Sacrificing babies in fire was another. I’m not going to go on. Financial corruption was commonplace. The rich were getting richer by oppressing the poor, using their money so they could get control and get richer. By the way, does that sound familiar to anybody? That’s the story of human civilization actually. We had a brief respite from that for a while in our country, but not so much anymore.

By the way, God does not think about what’s going to happen in terms of conservatives or liberals. So, this is not a political sermon. He uses different metrics, so to speak. He talks about good versus evil, and truth versus lies, and the rich oppressing the poor. These things will get a lot easier for us to understand if we think the way God does about what we see around us. So, we should take note that the poor were swept away with the rich when God stepped in. 

Why is that? Well, one reason for that was because the poor were complicit in the whole rotten scheme. They were the ones, along with the rich, who clamored for a king to begin with. I never thought of it before, as I started working of this presentation, but it’s possible that the rich wanted a king for their own purposes. The way God set up financial structure in the nation made it, essentially, impossible for people to get so rich they could trample others. Every 50 years, there’s all the land – which is what wealth was about back then – went back to the original family that owned it. So, there was no way to own land that had been granted by God to a family. That happened to every family when the tribes crossed the Jordan into the Promised Land. A person could rent land on a long-term lease, but at jubilee it all went back to the original owners – a sort of financial reform. God knew there would be some people who were smarter and more driven for power than others, and He was protecting them from that. 

So, once that law was ignored by Israel, the dark stain of corruption began to creep into their hearts. For this reason, God did a reset on His people. When we get to Nehemiah 8, we see the people of Israel back in their homeland and given a mandate to rebuild the city wall and the temple. That came from God, and it was given to the king. Back then, there was no printing press. The written word was hard to distribute. People had never heard or read the law of God. Consequently, in their effort as they came back into Jerusalem with the mandate by God to rebuild the temple and the city wall, they were floundering. The people had forsaken their mandate and were building their own fancy homes, so the work on the temple was being neglected 

So, Nehemiah, the governor, did a smart thing. He called in a man named Ezra. When Ezra came, things changed. Ezra was a change agent for God. The term the Bible used to describe him was a ready scribe in the law of God. So, he knew God’s law inside out and upside down, and because of that, he knew what to do. It says:

Ezra 7:10 – For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel. That was his purpose in life.  

One of the first things he did when he got back from Babylon to Jerusalem was to hold a Feast of Tabernacles. Yeah, the same feast we keep today. And it says that when he returned from Babylon to Israel, he brought with him various priests and musicians and people who had the skills necessary to host the Feast of Tabernacles. There’s a picture painted in Nehemiah every day during the Feast. He and the other priests would read the law of God to all of the people. Now, as I mentioned, these people had never heard God’s law before, and when they heard it read to them and explained by the priests…. I think of it as a kind of informal thing where I think they could ask questions. But a light bulb went on in every Jewish heart all at once. They all had a national paradigm shift. Today, we would call that a revival or a spiritual realignment or national repentance. It says that they built a platform so the people could see Ezra as he preached and read the law to them. It says that he had an opening prayer, during which people raised their hands – some today will be happy to hear that – and after he finished, they all said, “Amen” – just like we do. 

He started reading, and then he would stop to explain the meanings of what they were reading. In fact there was a team of priests sent out into the congregation, which was large, to help people to understand and to hear better. So, it was partly formal and partly informal teaching. I think it was an appropriate time for questions, since they probably didn’t have enough historical background to understand some of the reasons why things were said by God. 

In verse 9 of Nehemiah 8, it says:

Nehemiah 8:9 – And Nehemiah, who was the governor, and Ezra the priest and scribe, and the Levites who taught the people said to all the people, “This day is holy to the LORD your God; do not mourn or weep.” For all the people wept as they heard the words of the Law. So, these people did not know about the feasts or the holy days. It was all new to them. And they were so upset that they had not been obeying God that they wept in sorrow and repentance for their unbelief and lack of knowledge. 

And now we come to our verse for today – verse 10:

V-10 – Then he said to them, “Go your way. Eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions to anyone who has nothing ready, for this day is holy to our Lord. And do not be grieved – so, don’t be sad, but be happy. It’s a good day. We’ve all learned what God wants us to do now. And then he says this, and this is the focus of our message today: for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” 

I did a search on that phrase – the joy of the LORD – and I coupled that with a search on the word joy. In The New Treasury of Scriptural Knowledge – if you don’t know about that resource, it’s a great research tool. It accumulates the scriptures on the topic you want to study. It’s not just a word study or comparison. It’s accumulates things by topic. I used to have this resource in book form, but when I bought a computer Bible program that had this resource in it, the benefit to me just ramped way up. And what I read about the joy of the LORD rocked me! So, let me walk you with what I found. 

I started with the term joy of the LORD and I found this scripture: Deuteronomy 30:9 and 10. 

Deuteronomy 30:9-10 – The LORD your God will make you abundantly prosperous in all the work of your hand, in the fruit of your womb and in the fruit of your cattle and in the fruit of your ground. For the LORD will again take delight in prospering you, as he took delight in your fathers, when you obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, when you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul. 

Okay, two things that we can focus on out of that verse. One is that God loves blessing us. He delights in it. He takes joy in it. He is not the distracted parent that is so busy with his/her own struggles that the progress and the fun that their children have is lost of them. God enjoys seeing us happy and blessed and is with us in our happiness. He is happy when we are. One of my favorite sayings comes to mind here. “The best thing ever.” God loves to give us good things. I try to compare this to things in my own life. I remember when I was eight years old, I got an Erector Set for Christmas. Do you know what those are? They’re kind of out-of-style now. It came in a little metal box with a handle on it, like a little briefcase, and when you opened it, there were all these things in it. There was an electric motor, and wheels, and pieces of metal with holes in them, and lots of screws and nuts so you could build things out of it. I remember that, at that time, my family was not making as much money as in later days, and I remember that I was shocked that got such an amazing gift. I remember my father sitting on the couch watching me enjoy my creation with this big smile on his face. He delighted that I was delighted. That’s kind of what God said, right? We certainly do delight in the gifts He gives us. And He delights to give them to us. So, that’s the first thing to think about in this verse. God delights in blessing us. 

And God also delights in the reason He blesses us. He loves it when we turn from our own way to His. When we do that, He can bless us in ways He cannot before we change. And He loves that. He loves it when we turn to Him. And that’s mentioned in the verse, isn’t it? So, with God, it’s always about a two-way relationship. And for Him, that’s the best thing ever. That’s what He’s after. With this one, we move way past Erector Sets, don’t we? This is just interesting to me – probably nobody else. Elaine and I were up in the mountains of Colorado – southern mountains – and it was a little gift shop in this tiny little town. And I found in there an Erector Set, just exactly like the one I had when I was eight years old. It was For Sale for twenty-five bucks. I should have bought it, but I didn’t. But it had all the parts in it. I don’t how they…I lost a lot of my parts after a while, but there it was. It reminded me of that gift my dad gave me and how much fun he had watching me enjoy it. 

So, we know what it took for us to be made at one with God, don’t we? We have that two-way connection. God had to sacrifice one of His other children so we could be close. And our Elder Brother, Jesus Christ, had to give up His life so that we could be close. I mean, They planned all of this out from before time began. They had a plan and They were working it. And when They see us turn to Them, They know that their plan is working. That’s part of the enjoyment of it, isn’t it? 

Now, I also found another scripture that seemed to cloud the picture a bit. Let me read that to you. It’s in Deuteronomy 28:63. It says:

Deuteronomy 28:63 – And as the LORD took delight in doing you good and multiplying you, so the LORD will take delight in bringing ruin upon you and destroying you. And you shall be plucked off the land that you are entering to take possession of it – if you don’t obey Him; if you don’t draw close.

So, what? How could it delight God to bring blessings to us, and then also, delight God to bring ruin upon us? Doesn’t that kind of undo what was just said about blessings? Well, it might seem that way, but there is an explanation. And, if we understand it, then it’s going to help us a lot. If we can get it, it’s going to help us learn to think more like God thinks about what’s going on around us. It might even make the joy of the LORD our strength, which is what we set about to understand today, didn’t we? 

So, let’s understand it. God is working a great salvation plan. He laid it all out before He began any of it. This plan has a number of counterintuitive elements to it – things that don’t seem to make any sense at all. Apparently, He never explained this plan to anybody, because they are all mesmerized by it, and excited every time something new happens in the plan – every time there’s a new step. So, they’re learning about it as they watch. For that reason, Paul called this plan a great mystery – not just to us here on earth, but also to the angels in heaven. And this plan is SO great that, when a new element of this plan is revealed, it blows everybody in heaven away. They’re just astounded by it. Even though they know the words, but how’s it going to happen? That’s the question. 

So, in Revelation, we see the great beings with God throw down their crowns and fall on their faces in utter worship when they see what God is doing. Let’s think about some of the counterintuitive things in this plan – just so you’re on the same page as me about it. To create an eternal spirit family, He started with weak physical beings. Why would He do such a thing? We know that He’s created spirit beings in the heavens, so why didn’t He do what with us? Make us weak? Then He exposed His children – these weak vulnerable beings – to the greatest evil in heaven – the devil. Why would He do something like that? And because of this exposure, life as a human has become incredibly difficult – brief periods of joy in a backdrop of misery and suffering for everyone. So, why would He do that? This exposure also turned every human away from God, instead of toward Him. So, it looks like His plan is a total failure, if you think about it in those terms. So, God had allowed sin to enter the world – the attitude of the devil in everyone – instead of an attitude of love toward God. Just the opposite attitude is what He allowed in through the devil. That’s exactly opposite to the attitude of love that God has. So, why in the world? 

When attempting to build a loving family, sin can’t be part of it. We’re all captive to it. Everybody has sinned. And finally, He allowed things to devolve so far that humans will, given the opportunity, exterminate themselves. He tells us that in the Bible. Jesus said that. So, why would God work a plan in that way? It seems crazy. Well, if God’s one thing, He’s not crazy! Everything is going away from God, instead of towards Him, right now, but He has a plan. And it looked like, for quite some time, God’s plan to create a family wasn’t working. If you were an angel watching it unfold, there was, right off the bat, Cain and Abel. And then there was the flood – 4,000 years later where He had to kill everybody off because it was going bad so fast. And then after the flood, it all started up again with the Tower of Babel. Things still not working.  And there has been an ongoing history of suffering and privation, all caused by human hearts bent to the devil’s will ever since. It just seems to make no sense. And it was a mystery for eons. 

Let’s read something Paul wrote in Titus 2:11. 

Titus 2:11-14 – For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age. Oh, well, there’s a pretty good explanation of what God is intending. And that makes sense because of the grace of God. The grace of God has suddenly appeared. …bringing salvation for all people…. We’re all going to be saved. And we’re in training to renounce all ungodliness and worldly passions. We now have God’s mind in us and Christ’s mind in us. Their Spirit is present with us. They live in us now that way. And we have that to resist the devil and what he wants to do with us. Continuing on: …waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

So, once the grace of God appeared, that changed everything! At first, the prophets and angels didn’t know about the grace to come through Christ and bringing salvation to all people – not just Israel. And then notice: training us to renounce all ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives. And to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works. Instead of having the devil’s attitude, He’s changing us. He causing us to line up with His way of thinking. He’s purifying us for Himself for His own possession. He’s going to be our Father and we are going to be His children. 

Now, God knows we have to learn by having our senses being exercised to discern good from evil. So, He exercises our senses by letting us make mistakes and come under the influence of the devil, and then correcting us. And also dealing with all the things that happen in the world that are bad, like natural disasters and those kinds of things – time and chance. 

So, when He allowed Israel to become so weak that they fell to the Babylonians, He delighted. Why? Because He knew that one day, His rebellious people would stand again in Jerusalem, and cry their eyes out in repentance, and seek closeness to their Creator. 

So, how do you think God felt when that happened? I mean, there they were – a bunch of rebels, doing their own thing, totally ignoring what God told them to do, another generation of Israelites going astray – and He had Ezra the priest stand up and read the law to them, and they broke down in tears, because they wanted to be one with God, and they knew they weren’t. So, His plan worked! And it has been working. God is, by exposing all of us to this present evil world, helping us learn how to know God when we seek Him and evil when we see that. So, in this case, drawing away from God is bad, and drawing near to Him is good. 

There used to be a really stupid TV show on – I can’t even remember the name of it – but the main character would always say, “I love it when a plan comes together.” I’ve heard people say that since then quite a bit. So, maybe I wasn’t the only one watching a dumb show. But the Bible is telling us that God always knows how even the hard things will eventually work out for good. 

So, when He saw them burning their children alive and stuff like that, and He sent them into captivity, He knew that that was the first step toward their repentance. And He delighted in working that plan. That’s why He takes joy in even the hardest things. He knows His – at least, to us –audacious plan is working, and we will always be stronger when we pass through the trial and end up closer to God. 

So, that’s one reason why the joy of the LORD is your strength. So, what can this mean for us today? Well, I think that this scripture is a revelation to us. I’ve never heard anybody give a sermon about it, but I think it’s, maybe, time for that. When we have a child who is going off the rails, or our nation, or our health, or anything in between, we can know it’s all going according to God’s plan. It’s not that He punishes us, but He knows the devil’s system will wreak havoc on us as much as we align with it. And He knows how to draw us all back from that toward Him, in spite of the devil’s best effort. God has it all under control. He’s seen it working from the beginning. And He takes joy in it! And that joy in His plan, if we focus on that and the certainty that He has about His plan, that’s going to strengthen us – the patience, the long view, the peace, the hope and the faith we need to endure to the end. 

So, the scripture is true. The joy of the LORD is our strength. And we can find that in Nehemiah 8:10.