Nehemiah 8:10 NASB95
Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared; for this day is holy to our Lord. Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.”
All the years that I have been walking with the Lord I’ve often heard people referred to the phrase “the joy of the Lord is your strength.” I’ve sung songs that include that statement, and it’s probably one of the most frequent biblical phrases I hear quoted. The vast majority of the time, when people quote those words, they think that it means that our joy, which is the result of our relationship with Jesus, is a source of strength for us. There’s no question that when you love Jesus with all of your heart, there is a joy that comes with that kind of affection, but I don’t believe that’s what the Holy Spirit is trying to say. I believe that the reference to the joy of the Lord is literally just that; His joy. Our God is a joyful God. Can you imagine the immense capacity for joy that the triune God has? What if His joy was happening inside of you? How would that impact your inner man? I’m not saying that He will give you a bit of His joy so can experience it. I’m saying that we get to experience in us the joy that He feels. Listen to these words from John 15:11.
“These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you and that your joy may be made full.” Jesus said that He wanted His joy to be in us so that any joy we might have could be made full with the fullness of His joy. Because we are in Christ, we have been grafted into Jesus’s interior life. We are in union with His peace, His love, etc., and His joy. His joy is my strength! No matter what I might be going through in terms of circumstances, His joy strengthens me from the inside out. Paul said that even in times of sorrow, he was always rejoicing. I believe his capacity always to rejoice (remember, Paul’s personality was not the giddy type) was because the joy of Christ in him was his strength. Nothing drains your energy more than despair and depression, but those who abide in Christ don’t live in emotional burnout because of the joyful Christ living in them. We have been grafted into His interior life, and His interior life is one of immeasurable joy, and it transcends any personality type that you might be.