Oswald Chambers: Joy - Strength In The LordSýnishorn

If your circumstances are trying just now, remember the time when they were not trying, and you will be surprised at the self-righting power in the human heart to turn from one thing to another. How much misery a human heart can stand, and how much joy! If we lose the power of turning from one to the other, we upset the balance. God’s Spirit restores and keeps the balance right.

Preaching the gospel of “cheer up,” when a person cannot cheer up. Telling him to look on the bright side of things when there is no bright side is as ridiculous as telling a jelly-fish to listen to one of Handel’s Oratorios. It is just as futile to tell a man convicted of sin to cheer up. What he needs is the grace of God to alter him and put in him the well-spring of joy.

Reflection Questions: Do I settle for cheerfulness instead of joy? Is my confidence in God sufficient that I can experience joy even during times of sorrow? Is my experience of grace greater than my sin?

Quotations taken from Biblical Psychology, © Discovery House Publishers