Land of Joy

Do you remember seeing your first revolving door?  I don’t remember how old I was but I think it was at a downtown department store, and I was reluctant to approach.  Of course, once I got the “hang of it,” it was pretty cool and not near so scary!

 

The ups and downs of life sometimes makes me feel as if I’m caught-up in that [long-ago] revolving door.  In my current season of life with its many quiet times – long gone the days of little-boy chaos – yet my spirit still struggles.  Let us not be deceived, in our sin, we all have a focus problem.  Even on our best days, how do we answer Job’s question “will they find delight in the Almighty?” (Job 27:10).  Consider what Satan parades before us in the guise of joy and delight – entertainment, careers, relationships, wealth, fashion … his alluring list is endless.  God said through the psalmist, “Delight yourself also in the LORD; and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”  When the dust of the day settles, what is it the heart of man desires?  Argue as we do, that yearning is for peace, contentment, joy.  The Puritan prayed, “How free a state where none are servants except to Thee! Bring me speedily to the land of joy.”  The Land of Joy is not some mystical place of our imagination – rather, it is a spiritual state of being, an abiding place in Christ.  Step away from that spiritual revolving door, and into the steady Stream of Christ’s Light … enter-to-dwell in the Presence of the King – the Land of Joy.