In Nehemiah, chapter eight, verse ten, the people of God highly prized foods prepared with many fat and sweet drinks. Most ancient wines get boiled and condensed until becoming sweet and thick as honey or jellies. Then, it goes through a diluted process before drinking.
The declaration of God’s Word accompanies a sincere desire to follow its instruction, which results in valid and heartfelt joy. The “joy of the Lord” is based on reconciliation with God and the presence of the spirit in our lives. However, it is the maintenance by the assurance that we have been forgiven in Christ and restored to the fellowship with God. Therefore, we now live in harmony with His will, as in verses ten through thirteen and Luke seven, verse fifty, respectively. Such joy acts as a fortress to guard us from the troubles and temptations of each day, as in Psalms one hundred and nineteen, verse one hundred and sixty-five, Galatians five, verse twenty-two, and Philippians four, verse four, and as the power and motivation to persevere in faith until the end.
Joy in the Lord is the natural result of Christian Faith. There is a natural adaptation or provision in the Gospel, both by what it brings to us and what it takes away from us, to make a calm, settled, deep gladness and the temperament of the Christian Spirit. In what it gives us, I say, and in what it takes away from us. It gives us what we call well a sense of acceptance of God and gives us God for the rest of our spirits. The joy of the Lord gives us communion with Him, which in proportion as it is real will be still, and in proportion as it is still, will be all bright and joyful. It takes away from us the fear that lies before us, the strifes that lie within us, the desperate conflict that wages between a person’s conscience and their inclinations, between will and passions, which tears the heart asunder, and always makes sorrow and tumult wherever it comes.
The joy of the Lord takes away the sense of sin and gives us a conscience all calm from its accusations, with all the sting drawn out of it. For quiet peace lies in the heart of those trusting in the Lord. The Gospel works joyfully because the soul is at rest in God. Joy, because every function of the spiritual nature has found haven and its object. Joy, because health has come, and the healthy working of the body or the spirit, is itself a gladness. The joy that is in Christ is deep and abiding. Faith in Him naturally works gladness.