Spiritual Joy # 2

Spiritual Joy # 2

From all this it must be evident that spiritual joy is a very different thing from what some people would wish to represent it, who, imagining that religion has been disparaged, as it certainly has been, by the gloom and sourness of some of its professors, oscillate to the opposite extreme, and attempt to justify a lamentable degree of frivolity, merriment, and lightness, by the excuse, "that pious people ought to be cheerful; and that this is the way to win the people of the world to piety." So indeed they should be cheerful; but then it should be by the joy of their religion. Nothing spectral in appearance, nor sepulchral in tone, nor ascetic in habit, nor cynical in spirit, should characterize a Christian; he is a child of light, and should live, and act, and speak as such; he should be like one of the sons of the morning dropped from paradise, and bending his way back to it again, and bearing the trials of earth, with the recollection of his happy destiny, and the prospect of his future glory - he should have something of the bliss of heaven, but withal much of its seriousness too.

I shall now inquire into the reasons why so little of this joy is experienced by the majority of Christian professors. I assume that the multitude have far less than they might or should have. Look at the prosperous among them, and whence does their joy arise? From their religion? Or from their good spirits, their health, their family, their friends, their success, and home enjoyment? Look at the afflicted - how oppressed with care; how tortured with anxiety; how overwhelmed with sorrow; how cheerless for the present, and how hopeless for the future,  do they seem to be! How few appear to have the peace that passes all understanding, the joy which is unspeakable and full of glory! The Bible tells the world that the springs of true happiness gush out from the hill of Zion, at the foot of the Cross - and so they do- but how little do many who profess to have drank the living water, appear as if they had been at the crystal stream, and were satisfied with it.

Why is this? Is there in reality, not enough in the objects of spiritual truth to yield this joy? Yes, for they have comforted millions in the valley of tears, in every variety and degree of human woe; they are the rejoicing of spirits made perfect; the bliss of angels, and the joy of God's own heart. Is it that the sources are inaccessible to them? No - they are open to every child of God. Is it that God is unwilling to impart this joy to them; that in a way of sovereignty He has withdrawn it? No - it is a mistake to suppose that God, by any positive act of His own, hinders our peace, or extinguishes it; that in a way of sovereignty, and not as a chastisement for sin, but for the purpose of trying and exercising the graces of His people, He withdraws from them what is usually denominated sensible comfort, and causes them to experience darkness and despondency. "This view," says Wardlaw, "has long appeared to me not a little hazardous. It is too much calculated to make believers well pleased and satisfied with themselves, in circumstances which ought to excite them to self-jealousy, and searching of heart. It seems to me at once more safe, and more spiritual, to regard the lack of peace and joy as arising invariably (except where there is a physical cause in a nervous constitution) from, and indicating something wrong in - the spiritual temperament of our minds - some sin, or some defect in ourselves. It is of essential consequence for us to be impressed with the conviction that if we are destitute of peace and joy, the cause is in ourselves - uniformly and exclusively in ourselves. It is not that God has withdrawn from us - but that we have withdrawn from God."

The true causes of the lack of spiritual joy in professors, are the following - 

Some are professors only, and though they have a name to live, are dead; and being destitute of faith, are destitute, of course, of all joy and peace in believing. Let the joyless professor search himself, and ask if he is anything more than "a Christian in name."

Many do not desire this joy, at least they do not greatly covet it. They certainly would have some kind of enjoyment; they desire to be gratified; but it is only the joy of friendship, of health, of success in business, of a comfortable home, and a quiet fireside that they long for; not the peace of believing, not the pleasure of communing with God, not the delight of holiness and hope, not the felicity of a sense of pardoned sin, and the gratification arising from the exercises of devotion. They never go to God in prayer, saying, "Lord, lift up the light of your countenance upon us. You have put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their grain and their wine increased; for with you is the fountain of life - in your light shall I see light."

Great Mistakes are made by many in reference to spiritual joy. Some imagine it is only a privilege to be hoped, waited for, and expected in a way of sovereign favor; but not a duty to be performed. That it is a duty is evident from the frequency with which it is enjoined, as well as promised. We are commanded to "rejoice in the Lord," and nothing hinders us but our lack of faith. If it is our duty to believe, it is equally our duty to rejoice. It is a sin to be cheerless, as well as to be morose. True, joy is a work of the Holy Spirit, a gift of God; but so is faith, and love, and holiness.

Some imagine that though it is both a duty and a privilege for others - yet it is not for them. Why not? The source of joy is in the promise, not in yourselves, and it is to be drawn out by faith. And is not the promise as much to you as anyone? Some are waiting for what, perhaps, they will never have; a degree of rapture, of which their frame is scarcely susceptible. They are supposed that spiritual joy means something mystic, ecstatic, almost seraphic; some enrapt emotion frame which leaves them at a loss to determine whether in the body or out of the body. They are not contented with the calm, sweet, serene enjoyment of peace. Some have not attained to the full assurance of hope, have not received the witness of the Spirit, and because they have not the joy of assurance, reject that of faith; or because they have not the joy of a strong faith, spurn that of a weak one.

~John Angell James~

(continued with # 3)