^ I met an old man a day or two ago who had spent half a century in the secret place with God. And at the end of four- score years his joy is as ripe as autumn fruit. " Why, you are quite a marvel," said one of his friends. " No, no ; it is my Lord who is the marvel," replied the saint, who has dwelt so long in the holy place.^
M. H. Jowett.
NEHEMIAH viii. lo 523
(2) Joy in the Lord is progressive. — "Your joy shall be fultilled." Spiritual life is not complete and perfected in a day ; it grows from glory unto glory. And joy itself is one of the things which are being ever more richly matured. Each day will fulfil more of its promise and elicit more of its wealth. It is the subject of a ripening ministry which will never be finished.
^ The law of the universe is Perfectionation — that is to say, progression from bad to good, from good to better, and from better to best. And this progression is efiected by activity. We make the Sabbath the first day of the week — very foolish ! It is and was the last day of the week, and is a symbol of enjoyment in work done during the six days that precede, work being the very perfect business and definition of life.^
(3) Joy in the Lord is invulnerable. — " Your joy no man taketh from you." And this for the simple reason that no man can get at it ! It is beyond the reach of human treachery, and is indeed independent of all external circumstances.
^ I went a little while ago to the old ruined castle at Middleham. I noticed the massive outer walls of extraordinary thickness. I measured the inner walls, which constitute the keep, and in the middle of the keep there was the well. The water supply was quite independent of the invading forces by which the castle in olden days was beset and besieged. The water supply could never be touched. " The water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life." Our joy is a well which is in the " keep." "The Lord is thy keeper." 2
III
Our Strength.
We know by practical experience that joy is a strength. We know that, while sorrow depresses and unnerves us, joy gives us new heart and vigour. In a cheerful, confident mood we can do that which is quite impossible to us when our strength is wasted in doubt and vain regrets. If we go to any task in a gay, hopeful spirit, we are likely to do it well ; while a dejected and fearful heart is only too likely to ensure the failure it anticipates and dreads. But if all joy is strengthening, how ^ Jolin Stuart Blaokie, i. 194. 2 j jj jowett.
524 THE STRENGTH OF JOY
much more the joy of the Lord ! For the joy of the Lord is that serene cheerfulness which springs from an unwavering trust in Him, and which is therefore independent of the changes and losses and griefs of time. If God is our chief good, our supreme joy, as He does not change, our joy cannot change. Settled in a perfect trust in Him, we abide in a settled gladness and peace. All tasks are easier to us because we are sure of Him ; all losses are endurable because we cannot lose Him ; all sorrows may be borne because we are joyful in Him. It is only because God's presence and help. His friendliness and love. His perfect care of us and His joy in our joy, are not real and supreme facts to us, because they are hidden from us by our sins and fears, that we are so often weak and miserable and perturbed.
1. The joy of the Lord is our strength in the face of temptation. — If we look back at the past, do we not find that those periods in which we have given way to doubt and distrust were times in which all spiritual energy was paralysed, times in which we longed for some emotion that would raise us above ourselves — longed for " more life and fuller " ? Then, in the cold dreary midnight which has seemed to be settling over us, has not the voice whispered, " It is better to go madly wrong than to be passionless and cold " ? Then it was that the sleeping evil in the heart started into life, and low impulses and base temptations rose up in power. Now the "joy of the Lord" disarms temptation; it forms in itself the fulness of emotion, and surrounds us with a heavenly atmosphere in which the assaults of evil fall powerless away. It is the vacant heart that is powerless. It must be filled. It is vain to say to a man, "Love not the world," unless you give him something else to love. Thus He who is filled with that calm joy which springs from the surrender of the heart to God, and fellowship with His love, is strong with an irresistible strength.
^ He swung along the road, happy in heart, singing softly to himself, and thinking about the Saviour. All at once he could feel the fumes coming out of a saloon ahead. He could not see the place yet, but his keen, trained nose felt it. The odours came out strong and gripped him. He said he was frightened, and wondered how he would get by. He had never gone by before, he said, always gone in ; but he couldn't go in now. But