Three Dog Night

You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever. Psalm 16:11 NASB

Joy – We are often taught that joy cannot be manufactured, that it is a passionate, subjective experience that overcomes us. At the same time, we learn that joy is not dependent on our circumstances. Unlike happiness, joy is a product of involvement in the presence of the Lord or the wealth of community, even community with the created world. Perhaps joy is really the byproduct of deep reflection, of the realization that my very being in the world is best understood as an essential measure in the great symphony. Perhaps joy is knowing that who I am and what I do matters. “We become alive to our living in the great fellowship of all beings, we cease to regard things as opportunities to exploit.”[1]

Joy is the speechless response to the question, “How shall we ever reciprocate for breathing and thinking, for sight and hearing, for love and achievement?”[2] I am joy. You are joy. Just being in the palm of His creating is enough to bring joy for He only does what has purpose and meaning. As Heschel remarks, you and I are a “transcendent loan” to the world; a statement of YHVH’s trust in His choice to create agents like Himself. Joy is realizing that He cares about me.

This is why a man or woman without a sense of greater purpose is empty of joy. Yes, such person can certainly find happiness but happiness is fleeting and requires a constant adjustment of circumstances in order to satisfy. Happiness rides on the rails of “one more.” Joy is a different-order experience. It is the experience of overwhelming purpose, of knowing somehow that I count in the great scheme of things. Joy is an encounter with beyond myself, a face-to-face with the reality of the infinitesimal and the infinite. Joy is not a thing or a collection of things nor can it be produced by my engagement with things. Joy is the space between words that gives the meaning of the sentence. When I look for it, it cannot be found because it exists only in the in-between of my actions, and only in the in-between of my actions that extend beyond me, that involve the purposes of the Creator. Joy is nephesh hayyah before ‘ayyekkah.*

Some days ago we started with the quest for peace. Now we have discovered that well-being is not our real goal. Well-being is the state of bliss that accompanies joy and joy is the by-product of exercising created and creative purpose. We want shalom because we know all too well its absence, but shalom is the rainbow of heaven, something seen but impossible to grasp. This rainbow occurs when the arrangement of light and water is at the proper angle to the observer. Shalom is not something I generate. It is there, always, in the proper angle, the angle of relationship between the breath of our Creator and our position in the creation. God breathes—and if I am found in the right place at the right time I will experience the joy of His breath as me making a difference in the world.

Did you notice that David claims that God is the causal agent in this relation? He will make known. In His presence I will find. His right hand is full. It’s not me. He acts. I receive. But in order to receive I must be where I am supposed to be—in the place where heaven’s rainbow witnesses to His promise. Day 26.

nephesh hayyah before ‘ayyekkah. If God has to ask, “Where are you?” then you aren’t in the right place.

Topical Index: joy, shalom, Psalm 16:11

* “living person” before “Where are you?”

[1] Abraham Heschel, Man Is Not Alone, p. 39.

[2] Ibid.