I rejoice at Your word, like one who finds great plunder. Psalm 119:162 NASB Plunder – The poet expresses a feeling we might find embarrassing. We don’t usually relish in taking booty from invasions. So, we’ll have to reach way back in that collective unconscious to resurrect the exuberance that comes from the destruction of an enemy and…
Make glad the soul of Your servant, for to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul. Psalm 86:4 NASB Make glad – How do you interpret this request? If you’re encumbered by the typical Western paradigm, you might think the psalmist is asking God to gladden his inner, spiritual self. If you view man…
And you shall rejoice in all the good that God your God has given you and your family. Deuteronomy 26:11 (JLI) Given – “No one leaves this world with even half of his desires fulfilled.”[1] Why? Because we are happiness addicts and like all addictions, tolerance increases our desire in proportion to its fulfillment. No…
Then Yeshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; go and take word to my brethren to leave for Galilee, and there they shall see me.” Matthew 28:10 (my translation) Do not be afraid – Don’t we just want God to tell us what to do next? Don’t we really want a Bible GPS? “Turn…
Yet I will exult in the Lord, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. Habakkuk 3:18 NASB Yet – Perhaps the most important word in this verse is the tiny consonant vav attached to ani (“I”). The NASB translates this single letter as “yet,” but the vav plays a mighty role in Hebrew….
and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter and your male and female servants and the Levite who is in your town, and the stranger and the orphan and the widow who are in your midst, in the place where the Lord your God chooses to establish…
and these things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. 1 John 1:4 NASB Our joy – John must have been confused. I thought he wrote his gospel and letters so that the reader’s joy might be fulfilled. Don’t we automatically assume that John’s purpose is to make us feel better? But…
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Romans 1:21 ESV Give thanks – What does it mean to give thanks? The answer has to come from a biblical point of view. Paul…
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls, and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles; lest YHWH see and it be evil in His eyes, and He turn away His wrath from him. Proverbs 24:17-18 (Darby modified) Not – It’s a new year. This year the wicked will get what they deserve. This…
fixing our eyes on Yeshua the author and finisher of the faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebrews 12:2 Joy – This is behavior directed by delayed gratification. Oh, how difficult this is! Especially…
