Where do you look for happiness?

Since man fell in the garden, he has too often sought for his enjoyments where the serpent finds his. (SPurgeon)

It is unfortunate that many people think being a Christian involves running away from joy. Many believe that having fun is somehow ungodly. The reality is that it is not the search for pleasure that is wrong, it is rather whre we look for such happiness that determines right from wrong.

Nehemiah 8:10. states The joy of the Lord is your strength.

Spurgeon goes on

Oh, to know, beloved, that

God actually loves us! I have often told you I cannot preach upon that

theme, for it is a subject to muse upon in silence, a matter to sit by the hour together and meditate upon. The infinite to love an insignificant creature, an ephemera of an hour, a shadow that declineth! Is not this a marvel? For God to pity me I can understand, for God to condescend to have mercy upon me I can comprehend; but for him to love me, for the pure to love a sinner, for the infinitely great to love a worm, is matchless, a miracle of miracles! Such thoughts must comfort the soul. And then, add to this, that the divine love has brought as believers into actual relationship with God, so that we are his sons and daughters, this again is a river of sacred pleasure.

Spurgeon was a man who knew much suffering- having terrible gout and depression. How interesting, that unlike many today he then went on to say in this same sermon that times of suffering are the times when we can know must of the joy that comes from God’s presense.

Perhaps, the usual communions which we have with our Beloved, though exceeding precious, will never equal those which we enjoy when we have to break through thorns and briars to be at him; when we follow him into the wilderness then we feel the love of our espousals to be doubly sweet. It is a joyous thing when in the midst of mournful circumstances, we yet feel that we cannot mourn because the Bridegroom is with us. Blessed is that man, who in the most terrible storm is driven in not from his God, but even rides upon the crest of the lofty billows nearer towards heaven. Such happiness is the Christian’s lot. I do not say that every Christian possesses it, but I am sure that every Christian ought to do so.

And what we might ask is the results of such joy? Spurgeon tells us…

A joyous man, such I have now in my mind’s eye, is to all intents and

purposes a strong man. He is strong in a calm restful manner. Whatever

happens he is not ruffled or disturbed. He is not afraid of evil tidings, his

heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. The ruffled man is ever weak. He is in a

hurry, and doth things ill. The man full of joy within is quiet, he bides his

time and croucheth in the fullness of his strength………

…..Shall….wine sing so lustily, and shall we be silent? We are not

often guilty of disturbing the world with our music; the days in which

Christian zeal interfered with the wicked seem to have gone by; we have

settled down into more orderliness, and I am afraid also into more

lukewarmness. Oh for the old Methodistic shout.

(These quotes were from C.H. Spurgeon, sermon 1027 The Joy of the Lord, the Strength of His People If you liked them Ages Software are doing an amazing deal at the moment offering an entire Spurgeon CD with almost all he ever wrote for less than $30. Buy it now unless you already have one! )