XXXII. LIGHT AND JOYFULNESS
`Blessed is the people that know the
joyful sound: they walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy Continence. In Thy name
do they rejoice all the day.' -- Ps. 89:15,16
`Light is sown for the righteous, and
gladness for the upright in heart.' -- Ps. 47:11
`I am the Light of the world: he that
followeth me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life.'
-- John 8:12
`I will see you again, and your heart shall
rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you.' -- John 16:22
`As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing.' -- 2
Cor. 6:10
A father will always be eager to see his
children joyful. He does all that he can to make them happy. Hence God also
desires that His children should walk before Him in gladness of heart. He has
promised them gladness: He will give it. (Ps. 89:16,17; Isa. 29:29; John
26:22; 1 Pet. 1:8) He has commanded it: we must take it and walk in it at all
times. (Ps. 32:1; Isa. 12:5,6; 1 Thess. 5:16; Phil. 4:4)
The reason of this is not difficult to find.
Gladness is always the token that something really satisfies me and has great
value for me. More than anything else is gladness for what I possess a
recommendation of it to others. And gladness in God is the strongest proof
that I have in God what satisfies and satiates me, that I do not serve Him with
dread, or to be kept, but because He is my salvation. Gladness is the token of
the truth and the worth of obedience, showing whether I have pleasure in the
will of God. (Deut. 28:47; Ps. 40:9; 119:11) It is for this reason that joy
in God is so acceptable to Him, so strengthening to believers themselves, and
to all who are around the most eloquent testimony of what we think of God.
(Neh. 8:11; Ps. 68:4; Prov. 4:18)
In the Scriptures light and gladness are
frequently connected with each other. (Esth. 8:16; Prov. 13:9; 15:30; Isa.
60:20) It is so in nature. The joyful light of the morning awakens the birds
to their song and gladdens the watchers who in the darkness have longed for the
day. It is the light of God's countenance that gives the Christian his
gladness: in fellowship with his Lord, he can, and always will, be happy: the
love of the Father shines like the sun upon His children. (Ex. 10:23; 2 Sam.
23:4; Ps. 36:10; Isa. 60:1,20; 1 John 1:5; 4:16) When darkness comes over
the soul, it is always through one of two things, through sin or through
unbelief. Sin is darkness, and makes dark. And unbelief also makes dark, for
it turns us from Him, who alone is the light.
The question is sometimes put, Can the Christian
walk always in the light? The answer of our Lord is clear, `He that followeth
Me shall not walk in darkness.' It is sin, the turning from behind
Jesus to our own way, that makes dark. But at the moment we confess sin, and
have it cleansed in the blood, we are again in the light. (Josh. 7:13; Isa.
58:10; 59:1,2,9; Matt. 15:14,15; 2 Cor. 6:14; Eph. 5:8,14; 1 Thess. 5:5; 1
John 2:10) Or it is unbelief that makes dark. We look to ourselves and our
strength; we would seek comfort in our own feeling, or our own works, and all
becomes dark. As soon as we look to Jesus, to the fulness, to the perfect
provision for our needs that is in Him, all is light. He says, `I am the
Light: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the
light of life.' So long as I believe, I have light and gladness. (John 12:36;
11:40; Rom. 15:13; 1 Pet. 1:8)
Christians, who would walk according to the will
of the Lord, hear what His word says: `Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the
Lord. Rejoice in the Lord always: again, I will say, Rejoice.' (Phil. 3:1;
4:3) In the Lord Jesus there is joy unspeakable, and full of glory: believing
in Him, rejoice in this. Live the life of faith: that life is salvation and
glorious joy. A heart that gives itself undividedly to follow Jesus, that
lives by faith in Him and His love, shall have light and gladness. Therefore,
soul, only believe. Do not seek gladness; in that case you will not find it,
because you are seeking feeling. But seek Jesus, follow Jesus, believe in
Jesus, and gladness shall be added to you. `Not seeing, but believing, rejoice
with joy unspeakable and full of glory.'
Lord Jesus, Thou are the Light of the world, the Effulgence of the
unapproachable light, in whom we see the light of God. From Thy countenance
radiates upon us the illumination of the knowledge of the love and glory of
God. And thou art ours, our light and our salvation. O teach us to believe
more firmly that with Thee we can never walk in the darkness. Let gladness in
Thee be the proof that Thou art all to us, and our strength to do all that Thou
wouldst have us do. Amen.
1. The gladness that I have in
anything is the measure of its worth in my eyes: the gladness in a person, the
measure of my pleasure in him: the gladness in a work the measure of my
pleasure in it. Gladness in God and His service is one of the surest tokens of
healthy spiritual life.
2. Gladness is hindered by ignorance,
when we do not rightly understand God and His love and the blessedness of His
service: by unbelief, when we still seek something in our own strength
or feeling: by double-heartedness, when we are not willing to give up
and lay aside everything for Jesus.
3. Understand this saying: `He that seeks
gladness shall not find it; he that seeks the Lord and His will, shall find
gladness unsought.' Think over this. He that seeks gladness as a thing of
feeling, seeks himself: he would fain be happy: he will not find it. He that
forgets himself to live in the Lord and His will, shall be taught of himself to
rejoice in the Lord. It is God, God Himself, who is the God of the gladness of
our rejoicing: seek God, and you have gladness. You have then simply to take
and enjoy it by faith.
4. To thank much for what God is and does, to
believe much in what God says and will do, is the way to abiding gladness.
5. `The light of the eyes gladdens the heart.'
God has not intended that His children should walk in the darkness. Satan is
the prince of the darkness: God is light: Christ is the Light of the world: we
are children of the light: let us walk in the light. Let us believe in the
promise, `The Lord shall be to thee an everlasting light. Thy sun shall no
more go down, for the Lord shall be to thee an everlasting light, and the days
of thy mourning shall be ended.