Abiding Joy

January 8

“Let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Spread Your protection over them, that all who love your name may be filled with joy." Psalm 5:11

It is interesting that the psalmist does not say here, “Spread Your protection over the people who love you so they may rejoice.” No, he states this assurance of protection in such a way that those who take refuge in the name of the Lord should sing songs of joyful praise forever…then he asks that the protection of the Holy One be spread over them that they who love Him may be filled with joy.

It is thus with much of the word of promise that believers have in scripture. The hope, the encouragement, the blessing is proffered, but to those who have signed on with the Lord, to those who have taken the initial step of committing their way to Him. Once the person of faith has ‘thrown his hat into the ring,’ so to speak, then God's offers of abiding help become viable in his life.

Jesus observed once that there were some who followed Him “only for the loaves and fishes,” John 6:26. These were people were more impressed with having their needs supplied than by the fact that One who was obviously who He claimed to be—the Son of God (see Mark 14:61,62)--stood before them. Of course, Jesus did supply the needs of the people (see John 6:1-14) where He fed the 5000, but this was not His primary purpose.

Much more than He desired to supply the daily sustenance of the people who followed Him, Jesus desired to win souls from the kingdom of darkness to His Kingdom of Light. Although He came to minister healing to the sick, (see Isaiah 53:5), His primary intent was to bear the sins of fallen man so he could have fellowship with the Holy One again (see Isaiah 53:6-8, 11-12).

Still today, Jesus is our Healer and our Savior. He wants us to have the full salvation package. He wants us to rejoice no matter what our circumstances may be, for His promise to spread His protection over us transcends time. He desires to cover us eternally by rescuing us not merely from temporal trials but from everlasting punishment. If we will, "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice!" Philippians 4:4, we who love His Holy Name shall indeed be filled with abiding joy according to the promise, no matter what circumstances we may face.