The Joy of Thy Salvation

Psalm 51:12
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

Remember what it was like when we first became a Christian?  Remember the joy that we felt?  The relief and release we had?  The zeal that welled up inside of us?  We could not help but to try and tell everyone we knew about how we were now saved and how they could be too.

When I was first saved, I remember going outside because I just could not contain myself inside. It was like 3am; a cold still night and the snow was falling.  Everything was covered in pure clean white.  It was exactly how I felt.  God had covered me with this purity and cleanness that I had never known before. I was in total awe of the scenery and the relation to what God had done inside of me.  The hallelujahs rang out into the night sky as the cold snow pelted, then melted on my face.  The joy I felt was indescribable.

After a while, the joy wore off and reality set in.  Not everyone was as happy about my conversion as I was, nor were they all that interested in hearing about it.  Plus, living the righteous life called for some drastic changes to how I had been living my life, and those changes were not so easy.  People who had been my friends suddenly didn’t want to hang out so much anymore.  Things I did, I no longer enjoyed doing.  And that was the easy part.

For me to be transformed, God had to do a lot of purging and pruning in my life.  I had been a wild stallion and I had to be broken before I would be of any use.  To gain everything, I had to lose everything.  It was hard and not very much fun, but, I stuck with the Lord and He delivered me from my troubles.

It was such a joyous time again.  I was so thankful for just the slightest of things.  A warm bed; a warm meal; a couple dollars in my pocket were things I was so happy to receive.  After a while the joy slipped away again as new problems and challenges arose.  Then it was returned after more victories from God. You see a pattern here?

In our Christian walk, we go through many peaks and valleys.  Eventually we do learn to be content in whatever situation we find ourselves in.  We learn to trust God in all things and that He WILL take care of us in all matters. But, there is nothing like that joy of when we were first saved.  I would that we would be all so faithful as to be able to live in that for all of our days.  We don’t though.

Sometimes we mess up; make mistakes, and do things that we really shouldn’t be doing and it gets us into trouble.  It troubles us in our minds, our spirits, and often does have consequences that we have to live with.  This steals our joy away and replaces it with sorrow.  It can put us on our knees begging the Lord, as the psalmist does, to have our joy as we knew it at salvation restored to us.

I John 1: ⁹ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Joy comes when we have a right relationship with God.  If we are not experiencing joy in our lives, we had best examine it.  Joy is one of the fruits of the spirit.  It comes as a result of our obedience and acknowledgement of the Lord and the recognition of what he has done for us, in us, and through us.  It is a great feeling to have and one we should earnestly seek.  It is infectious and will spread to others.

 I pray that we can all have the joy of our salvation restored.  When others see it, they will desire it.   They will ask us about it.  Why are you so joyful all of the time?  Then you can share with them why it is you are so joyful.  In fact, the very next verse in the 51^st psalm that I quoted at the start says, ¹³ Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.  This joy both draws people to us and energizes us to share the reason for our joy with others.