Read
about the way King David felt, when instead of dealing with his sin he held it
in his heart for around a year before he dealt with it. Please read Psalms 51:3-19, “For I acknowledge my transgressions, and my
sin is always before me. Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this
evil in Your sight—That You may be found just when You speak, and blameless
when You judge. Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin my mother
conceived me. Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden
part You will make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be
clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness,
that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and
blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a
steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not
take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and
uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,
and sinners shall be converted to You. Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed,
O God, the God of my salvation, and my tongue shall sing aloud of Your
righteousness. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall show forth Your praise.
For You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in
burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite
heart—These, O God, You will not despise. Do good in Your good pleasure to
Zion; build the walls of Jerusalem. Then You shall be pleased with the
sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering; then
they shall offer bulls on Your altar.”
Did
you notice how David wanted God to restore the joy of His salvation, and also
when He said make me hear joy and gladness that the bones you have broken may
rejoice. I don’t think that God literally
broke David’s bones, but he felt that way, basically I think he felt miserable.
Some
might say that is Old Testament; let’s go to the New Testament where we read
how Peter’s sins affected him when he denied the Lord three different times, please
read Matthew 26:69-75, “Now Peter sat
outside in the courtyard. And a servant girl came to him, saying, ‘You also
were with Jesus of Galilee.’ But he
denied it before them all, saying, ‘I do not know what you are saying.’ And
when he had gone out to the gateway, another girl saw him and said to those who
were there, ‘This fellow also was with Jesus of Nazareth.’ But again he denied
with an oath, ‘I do not know the Man!’ And a little later those who stood by
came up and said to Peter, ‘Surely you also are one of them, for your speech
betrays you.’ Then he began to curse and swear, saying, ‘I do not know the Man!’
Immediately a rooster crowed. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus who had
said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.’ So he
went out and wept bitterly.”
The
kind of repentance that David and Peter had is what I would call godly sorrow
that leads to repentance unto salvation which need not to be repented of.
Now
think of Judas’ sorrow, he betrayed the Lord for thirty pieces of silver which I
would say was worldly sorrow that brings forth death. Please read Matthew 27:1-10, “When morning came, all the chief priests
and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death. And when
they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the
governor. Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was
remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests
and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ And they said,
‘What is that to us? You see to it!’ Then he threw down the pieces of silver in
the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests
took the silver pieces and said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the
treasury, because they are the price of blood.’ And they consulted together and
bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field
has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then was fulfilled what was
spoken by Jeremiah the prophet, saying, ‘And they took the thirty pieces of
silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel
priced, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.’”
Now please read 2 Corinthians 7:10, “For godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation, not to be
regretted; but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
Would Judas been sorry if Jesus had not been condemed to
death? Think about that. Another reason why believers lose their joy is
that they hang onto unforgiveness which can lead to anger and revenge, which
are also sins. Another reason could be depression which may have happened when they
were very young or any period in their lives. Depression can bring discouragement and
self-pity also anger, resentment and even fear and anxiety. Because of these things, plus others,
believers can lose their joy and their strength. Some believers lose their joy because they
have been going through some difficulties in their life’s and they don’t
understand why it is happening to them. The
truth is, every believer will experience tests of faith in their walk with the
Lord; and will be corrected at times. I
believe every believer will struggle with something in their walk with the Lord
at some point in his or her life.
Please read Hebrews 12:1-13, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares
us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto
Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set
before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the
right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility
from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your
souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. And you
have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: ‘My son, do not
despise the chastening of the Lord, nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by
Him; for whom the Lord loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He
receives.’ If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what
son is there whom a father does not chasten? But if you are without chastening,
of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons.
Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them
respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of
spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to
them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. Now no
chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless,
afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been
trained by it. Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble
knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be
dislocated, but rather be healed.”
Like I said, there are many things that will cause us to
lose our joy, so let’s be careful. Plus,
think of this, the enemy of our souls is a joy stealer, he is behind all of it,
he will try to use any means possible to steal our joy, also so we must resist him,
and he will flee from us. I know how
this can happen because I have experienced it myself.
So, if you are experiencing the loss of joy in your lives, hang
in there and do the right thing and trust the Lord to come through for you and
never throw in the towel, so to speak, this may be just a test. Remember the Lord loves you and will not leave
you or forsake you, so don’t leave Him or forsake Him. I pray that this has been a help and a
blessing to each of you and may the good Lord bless you and yours and may you
have a super day!!
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