JOY WORK OUTS

Heard a sermon on Phil 2:12-13 while I was studying about how the joy of the Lord is our strength (Neh 8) and discovered that joy workouts are one way that we work out our salvation with fear and trembling in the presence of the Lord.  And be assured that it is God who works in our salvation by our faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross. [Phl 2:12-13 NIV] 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed--not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence--continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. 

In Nehemiah, God does an amazing work and enables His people to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem in 52 days despite heavy opposition and threat of war (Neh 4,6:1-14). [Neh 6:15-16 NIV] 15 So the wall was completed on the twenty-fifth of Elul, in fifty-two days. 16 When all our enemies heard about this, all the surrounding nations were afraid and lost their self-confidence, because they realized that this work had been done with the help of our God.

The dictionary defines joy as something or someone in which one takes delight, so for God’s people, joy can be defined as: to delight in God.  In the scripture above we see that God’s people knew that He had helped them to complete the wall in such a short time and so they were delighting in Him or experiencing the joy of the Lord.

Nehemiah gathers the people together in Jerusalem and they ask Ezra to read the Book of the Law and they listened attentively (Neh 8:1-3).  (Note:  That’s what happens when we delight in the Lord, we want to know Him more.)  

[Neh 8:9-10, 12 NIV] 9 Then Nehemiah the governor, Ezra the priest and teacher of the Law, and the Levites who were instructing the people said to them all, "This day is holy to the LORD your God. Do not mourn or weep." For all the people had been weeping as they listened to the words of the Law. 10 Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength." ... 12 Then all the people went away to eat and drink, to send portions of food and to celebrate with great joy, because they now understood the words that had been made known to them.

God’s people listened attentively to the Word of the Lord and their leader’s teaching and understood and obeyed it.  This resulted in great joy and great strength in the Lord.  

The next day, Ezra read about the Festival of Tabernacles that was to be held later in the 7th month (Neh: 8:14) and so they obeyed the Word of the Lord and celebrated it at the appointed time.  They proclaimed this Word and spread it throughout their towns and in Jerusalem (Neh 8:15). Neh 8:17 NIV] 17 The whole company that had returned from exile built temporary shelters and lived in them. From the days of Joshua son of Nun until that day, the Israelites had not celebrated it like this. And their joy was very great. 

This second joy workout was an extension of the first and their joy increased and so they grew even stronger in the Lord. This time they not only wanted to know the Lord more, but they wanted others to know Him as well and so they proclaimed and spread the Word of the Lord.  This resulted in an amazing unity of belief and obedience to the Word of the Lord that only God could bring about.  He wanted every single person who returned from exile to experience very great delight or joy in Him and to know that they were His people.  It’s interesting that He did this by having them camp out in temporary shelters made from branches so that they could see the stars and moon through them.  

We have an amazing God who goes to extraordinary lengths to ensure that we know that He loves us and is there to help us.  When we choose to draw near to Him in community with other believers (i.e., tabernacle with Him) to understand and obey His Word, we’ll in turn experience greater and greater delight (i.e., joy) in Him and be strengthened in our faith.  The joy of the LORD is your strength – work it out!

Cary Allen (cary.allen@comcast.net)