April 21

"The joy of Jehovah is your strength.” Nehemiah 8:10

The worst kind of life to live is the life of reactions, in which we are all the time affected by persons or circumstances. When we speak and somebody responds warmly to our words we are full of joy; but we are the very opposite when our message is not well received. Being thus easily affected will inevitably produce an up-and-down experience. Don't mistake me—it is natural to feel things deeply, but he who is governed by such feelings will always be lacking in divine strength.

It is when we lose our joy that our strength seeps away. The joy of the Lord Jesus when he was here on earth never rested on the seeming success of his mission. It was not in fact attributable to anything outward, but only to his steadfast pursuit of the will of the Father—“the joy that was set before him.” Thank God that we do not have to try to copy Jesus, but only to keep our eyes on his goal. His joy is ours by the Holy Spirit.