When I was young, I used to adorn myself in scarves and costumes from my dress-up box, place a record on the record player, and joyfully dance around the room for hours.  The fact that I was not a very good dancer was meaningless.  All that mattered was the joy of the moment.  As I grew older, my moments of joy grew farther and farther apart.  I grew dependent upon a few external forces to create joy—an approaching thunderstorm, anticipation of a party, ocean waves crashing on a beach.  At the same time, my times of depression and discouragement increased exponentially.  From self-doubts to relationship issues to health problems to natural disasters to the state of the world in general, there seems to be less and less joy in our society every day, yet I am told as a Christian that I should have joy in my life.  The Bible tells us that one of the fruits of the Spirit is joy.  As adults, we are supposed to experience joy just as I did as a child dancing around the room with my scarves twirling around me.  However, the path to that joy is not through dancing or parties.  The key to finding that joy as adults can be found in Psalm 100.

“A Psalm for giving thanks. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!  Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!  Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.  Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!  For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”  (Psalm 100:1-5)

The Psalm says “Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!”  Yes, God wants us to have joy.  We live in a tired old sinful world full of pain, sickness, evil, and greed, but God commands you to “Be joyful!” 

In the spring of 2018, I experienced a horrible time in my life.  I was sick twice; the second time was even more miserable than the first.  On top of that, I had an infected root canal that was so painful that I was living continuously on ibuprofen simply to function.  Then in the middle of all this pain, my aunt died.  She had been like my second mother when I was a child.  Unfortunately, my experience during that month was not unusual for most people on this earth.  Anxiety, sickness, and pain are the norm for all of humanity, and yet God wants us to be full of joy.  How can we have joy in the middle of worry, disaster, and death? 

The answer is found in Psalm 100—Serve the Lord.  I found that my greatest joy during that miserable period was to look to Jesus and not focus on my own problems.  In addition, I found another joy.  My second-best joy was found in helping others.  And I remembered to count my blessings.  Yes, my aunt was gone, but she loved Jesus.  I am confident that she and I will have eternity to visit with each other in heaven.  There, she will not be confined to a tired old body that continues to break down more and more every day, but a healthy rejuvenated body created just for her.  She will not have to lug around an oxygen tank just to breathe.  Instead, she will be able to jump and run and shout and take deep breaths of the glorious atmosphere of heaven, and I will have the privilege of watching her do it.  Most of my family makes no claim to Jesus as a Savior, so I cannot know with any certainty that I will share eternity with most of my loved ones, but I have the joy of knowing that I will have at least some family with me, including my beloved aunt, throughout the ages.

Verse 2 tells us to “Serve the LORD with gladness! Come into his presence with singing!”  This is easier for me to do now as I have had more experience with serving God and I have learned to trust Jesus, but there was a time when I asked the question, “If I serve the Lord willingly, but not happily, does it make a difference?”  God had asked me to perform a service for Him, and I knew that I was the best person for the job, so I willingly did what He asked, but part of me was not happy.  I worried about how my own life would be affected by what I had done.  I worried about my financial security.  I worried about worrying.  There was no joy in all that worrying even though I was serving God.  I talked to God about it, and then one day, God revealed to me where gladness was to be found in His service.  I discovered the joy of serving when I witnessed lines of worry replaced by happiness and relief in the face of another person, and I realized that God had given me the privilege of helping Him to create that happiness.  Then, I knew why the Psalmist said to serve the Lord with gladness.  It is because service is a privilege that God lets us share.  He wants us to participate in His happiness.  God Himself lives to serve and rejoices in it; He wants us to share His joy.  Recently, a friend jokingly accused me of selfishly keeping my problems and needs to myself rather than giving my Christian sisters and brothers the privilege of helping me.  She teased me that I wanted to gather up all the joy of helping others to myself.  I just grinned and told her that she was correct.  It is true; I’m greedy to grab the joy of service wherever God gives me the opportunity to experience it!  If you have not learned this joy yet, ask Jesus to give you the opportunity to work with Him in service so that you can learn to experience His joy.

Verse 3 says “Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”  Here is the greatest cause for joy in the world.  We can have confidence that our God is powerful and holy and meek and strong.  He is everything good.  Most of all, God is love, and He claims us as His.  He created us, but we disobeyed Him and deserted Him for service to Satan.  However, God refused to leave us in slavery to sin.  Instead, He came to earth and became human so that He could claim us as His again.  He will not reject us or forsake us.  When we know that we are His, we can be joyful in His love.  One of the reasons that I love to encourage people to dig into their Bibles is so that they will become closer and closer to God.  The truths about God found in the Bible will bring joy into your heart as you increasingly know that the LORD is God!

Verse 4 says to “Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!”  We can experience joy today through gratitude and praise.  In gazing with wonder on God, we drink in joy as God becomes our oasis in the middle of this dried-up desert that we call home.  However, we have also received the promise that the day will come when there will be even more joy.  Someday, Jesus will claim His people and take us home with Him.  On that day, we will enter His gates with hearts brimming with thanksgiving because He never gave up on us but continued to work with us and love us and draw us to Him.  As we enter into His courts, we will praise His name for the joys and delights He has planned for us in the future, as well as the salvation He provided for us in the past.  I pray that when we enter heaven’s gates, I will see you there beside me, and we can make plans to explore the heavenly city together.

The final verse says, “For the LORD is good; his steadfast love endures forever, and his faithfulness to all generations.”  This is our promise from God.  His love for us has never failed.  His love for us never will fail.  We may break our promises, but God is faithful to every generation of humans. Whether you are old and weak or a small energetic child, God is faithful.  He always keeps His promises.  He kept His promises to Abraham in ancient times, and He will keep His promises to us today.  We can count on a joy-filled life forever.  The sorrows of this earth are temporary.  A day will come when our pain fades away, just as the memory of my infected root canal never comes to mind anymore.

Psalm 100 reassures us that joy is possible now and in the future.  In all times, true joy is only guaranteed in knowing our Savior and in serving Him.  That service includes the joy of working with Him to serve others.  There is plenty of cause for fear and worry in the world today, but through knowing God, joy can triumph over problems.  Because Jesus conquered death, we can find joy even in the times of greatest sorrow.  For this reason, when this life becomes overwhelming, cling to Jesus and confidently ask for joy from Him.  Through His love, you can experience joy even in darkness and pain.  Claim His faithful promises.  He loves you, and He wants you to know Him as your closest friend.  His love can give comfort in sadness and joy in pain.  I pray that you will “know that the Lord, He is God” with every fiber of your being.