“Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is your refuge [strength].” Nehemiah 8:10 NASB
In this week’s blog I take up where I left off last week. Once again, I am sharing the story behind a song. This song is called The Joy of Love and it came to me a little after midnight on September 5, 1996.
If you recall, last week’s blog was about a song called The Pain of Love and it was written for my daughter, Annē, after the loss of her baby horse she had named Surprise. Watching my daughter grieve after the loss of her horse did something deep in my heart. Having no power to change the situation, I did all that was left for me to do: I cried out to God for help. It was in this process of crying out to God that I began to focus my attention on the truth that no matter what life brings our way, God is in control. In a nutshell, this means there is always light at the end of any tunnel. This means that although I may feel grief and sorrow, joy is always the underlying tone of the river that carries my heart. How can this be?
My daughter’s favorite pet was irrevocably gone. Surprise could not come back. Yet this horse’s death became an opportunity for me to teach my daughter how to cry out to God for comfort. Watching her receive my instruction and cry out to God on her own not only afforded her comfort I could not give her, but it also helped comfort the helplessness I felt as a daddy who wanted to protect his little girl from pain.
How does one teach another how to find the hidden treasures in life? Sometimes treasures are only revealed over time. At the time of Surprise’s death, Annē could not see the new levels of maturity her grief would lead her to. But months later, when other trials came her way, she was able to see God's hand at work and easily call to remembrance all God had done for her. Slowly but surely, Annē found that the fire she had to go through had produced a more refined heart. Like precious gold purified by the refiners fire, grief prepares the heart for greater levels of maturity. Maturity is another way of saying one has grown closer to God.
What is joy and how does one find it in the midst of sorrow? Joy is knowing we are never alone. Joy is knowing Christ goes through the grief with us and that he is a firm, unshakable rock and a foundation in a stormy sea. Joy is knowing that even though we may not see the way out, He is still making a way for us and will reveal it to us in due time.
A little horse named Surprise had died, but I watched a little girl grow into a young woman in the process of grieving that loss. Even in death, life had been supplied even more abundantly than we thought possible. Annie found enough joy and strength not only to deal with the death of Surprise, but to continue to raise other horses and another baby horse named Penny. Melinda and I have had the privilege of watching our daughter grow through the pain and walk in deeper levels of confidence and assurance, not in herself, but in her Redeemer and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The joy of love is knowing that even in sorrow, we are known by someone bigger than death. The joy of love is being able to share our sorrow and our grief with someone big enough to handle it when we cannot. The joy of lovers knowing we are loved and never alone. The joy of love is knowing God and being known by Him.
Dennis Jernigan
Let's take the next few minutes and think about some of the things that causes grief in this life and as we think about those things, let's allow the Holy Spirit to show us his point of view. Just as there is sometimes pain in the midst of love, there is joy that transcends even our deepest sorrows. Let's just bathe for a few minutes in the joy of love. God's amazing and massive love for us. To do that, listen to the song, The Joy of Love, along with the podcast version of this blog at https://www.patreon.com/posts/joy-of-love-99720666
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