The more you enjoy Him, the more you enjoy Him.
Enjoying God: Part 2 (3)
In the day of prosperity be joyful,
But in the day of adversity consider:
Surely God has appointed the one as well as the other,
So that man can find out nothing that will come after him. Ecclesiastes 7.14
Enjoying God
In this brief series we have been considering what it means for us to enjoy God and why doing so is so important.
While enjoying God may seem an unlikely prospect—why should the almighty, holy, and eternal God allow sinners such as we to enjoy Him?—we have seen that the Scriptures teach that knowing God’s joy is our very reason for being. We have been made for joy and are invited—even commanded—to seek it.
The joy we have in enjoying God issues from His saving us and forgiving our sins. This joy does not arise from temporal circumstances or material things. It is instead the Lord’s joy, the joy He has in His Triune Self and into which He invites us, that we might share in this fellowship with Him (cf. 1 Jn. 1.3, 4).
The joy of the Lord changes the entirety of our temporal existence, since He calls us to enjoy Him in all things as citizens and ambassadors of His Kingdom. In that capacity, as He showed us by His own example, we enjoy the Lord and know His joy as we serve others in His Name and for His glory. In serving others, we experience His grace and realize His promises, for then we abide in the Word of the Lord and know the power of His Spirit.
Thus we may enjoy the Lord, even to the point of being filled with His fullness (Eph. 3.19), as we abide in the fellowship of joy we have in Him through Jesus Christ. And that joy, consistently and increasingly known, can be a bulwark within our soul. We can be joyful when all is well in our lives and joyful when all is not, because our sovereign God appoints our circumstances, not to burden or break us, but to lead us ever more deeply and continuously to enjoy Him.
Many tribulations
We must remember that being saved and conveyed into the Kingdom of God does not make us immune to adversity. Indeed, to move us ever more loftily into His Kingdom and joy, He allows us to know adversity. He intends that, by adversities of many kinds, we may be exercised in looking to Him (cf. Acts 14.21, 22; 2 Cor. 4.16-18; Jn. 1.9). He will never forsake us but is with us always to bring us into His joy. And, as is true of any exercise, the more consistent we are in this, the more our response to all adversity will be to enjoy the Lord in the midst of it.
When trials befall us, we who have learned to enjoy God can rejoice in adversities of all kinds, because nothing can separate us from the love and joy of our Lord (Jms.1.2-4; Rom. 8.38, 39).
And those trials can be severe. They come as episodes of doubt, when, because we can’t figure something out in God’s Word, or explain it to ourselves, we doubt its truthfulness—a jaundice of doubt which can affect our view of the whole Bible—and so become anxious and crestfallen.
At the same time, we are daily faced with a variety of temptations—to fear men more than God, cut corners with God’s truth, be silent when we should speak out, take the fire of sin into our breast in the belief it won’t do any harm, neglect to feed our God-hungry souls, and more. All these things can catapult us into trials and tribulations. Still, these are merely challenges to remember who we are, look to our God, and recover the joy we have in Him and His forgiveness.
Or again, others may mock and deride us, or even seek to do us harm. And they may succeed, but not to such an extent that we necessarily cease enjoying the Lord.
Thus, enjoying the Lord and the joy that comes from knowing Him can be a bulwark against all deleterious conditions and affections (Hab. 3.17-19), protecting us within a fortress of joy against the many and various onslaughts of the world, the flesh, and the devil.
And the more we enjoy the Lord, the stronger that bulwark becomes, guarding us against the vain and deceitful joys of the world, the inclination to disobey God, the subtle insinuations of the devil, and intermittent periods of slackness in believing.
Fortifying our bulwark
So we should exercise to fortify this bulwark so that we may always enjoy our infinitely enjoyable God. How can we do that? Let me briefly mention five “exercises” for strengthening your soul’s bulwark of joy in the Lord.
First, whenever, in your reading of Scripture, you come to an instruction or command to rejoice, do so. Right then. Rejoice to know the Lord and to be in fellowship with Him. You will find that the more you rejoice in your devotional times, the more you will enjoy the Lord throughout the day.
And when you are rejoicing at such times, rejoice out loud. Rejoicing out loud has the effect of increasing joy. As a simple comparison, imagine watching your team win a national championship. You can smile and be glad in silence, or you can jump up and shout for joy. Rejoicing out loud makes for more joy.
Similarly, you should learn some psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs which have rejoicing as their mood and motif, and sing these throughout the day. Let the simplest reason to rejoice and give thanks cue up a line or stanza of a song of rejoicing, and let ‘er rip, right where you are.
A fourth exercise for strengthening your bulwark of joy is to share your joy with others who will affirm your joy and rejoice with you.
Finally, meditate with more frequency and focus on Jesus, exalted in glory. And as you do, give thanks and rejoice in the beauty, majesty, goodness, holiness, power, and truth of Him Who ever lives to shepherd and intercede with the Father for you.
Let enjoying God make your soul a mighty spiritual muscle of faith and obedience, against which nothing can prevail.
Search the Scriptures
1. Read 2 Corinthians 4.16-18. How do you practice what Paul describes here? Why is this discipline important for enjoying God?
2. Read James 1.2-4. What does James mean by “count it” all joy? How would you practice that? When?
3. Enjoying God is a discipline, and as a discipline it is like a muscle. What would you say to a new believer to help them begin exercising the discipline of enjoying God?
Next steps—Transformation: Where are your “enjoying God” muscles in need of some exercise? Begin exercising them today.
T. M. Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
How should joy affect our lives as Christians? Our booklet, Joy to Your World!, can show you how both to know more of the Lord’s joy and to invite others into it as well. Order your copy by clicking here.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
