The Joy of the Lord is my strength!

The joy of the Lord is your strength! We hear this saying over and over again, but what does it actually mean? Does it suggest that Yahweh Himself experiences joy - and that this is the basis of our strength? What implication does that have for our lives? Does His joy have something to say about our very existence?

Putting ourselves in the place of the original hearers of this verse and doing a little study of the word for Joy used in the text, we get a better understanding of what this phrase actually means, and friends: IT IS AMAZING!

To set the stage, let’s go to Nehemiah chapter 8 and picture the newly freed Israelites rebuilding their lives within the new walls of Jerusalem. Israel had been in exile for 70 years, so you can imagine that most of the returning Israelites had never even set foot in their homeland. As a matter of fact, unless they were over the age of 70, they had never heard the Law read until this very moment when they all gathered in front of the Water Gate to hear Ezra read the ancient scriptures.

As the Law was being read, the people broke out in weeping. It must have been such an intense moment! The sudden conviction in their hearts of God’s holiness AND their own sinfulness, mixed with the celebration of the end of captivity, and I’m sure in the back of their minds: the fear of losing their freedom yet again, was too much to bear.

Weakness, fear, shame, and insecurities ascended upon them in an attempt to snuff out their newfound flame of hope. Sound familiar? How often do we let our circumstances steal our joy?

Nehemiah, Ezra, and the leaders quickly encouraged the people to stop mourning and weeping, and instead start celebrating what the Lord had done. This is where we are introduced to this most amazing phrase when, in Nehemiah 8:10, Nehemiah says “Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.

This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” Soon the sounds of joy, song, and laughter arose within the walls of the city, as a healing balm covering the sounds of horror from the captivity 70 years earlier,re-establishing the dominion of the rule of the Kingdom within the land.

To truly understand the power of that phrase, it is important to recognize the true meaning behind that particular word for joy. The original Hebrew for "joy" in Nehemiah 8:10 is "chedvah," meaning joy or gladness. This word is only used twice in scripture, both related to Yahweh’s joy.

Besides Nehemiah 8:10, it is also used in 1 Chronicles 16:27 when the ark is brought into David’s tabernacle and the Levites sing a song of praise celebrating that the symbol of the covenant was once again in their midst. Splendor and majesty are before him; strength and joy are in his dwelling place.

Could it be that the Joy of the Lord is connected to God’s covenant with mankind? Let’s dig deeper!

I love the Hebrew language because every letter has its own meaning, and the true meaning of the word comes when we put the meanings of each letter together. Chedvah is a noun derived from the verb chadah (meaning: to rejoice). The Hebrew consonants are chet-dalet-hey. The chet means a wall or fence. The dalet means a door. Hey means to Look or Behold.

Together, the picture these three letters in CHADAH present is: "Behold, a door in the wall." WOW! 

Dalet is an interesting character because in ancient Hebrew culture, to pass through a doorway was an act of coming into covenant with the leader of the home. So not only does dalet represent "a way in," but it also means a way into covenant with someone.

Now we can see what Yahweh’s joy truly is! The Joy of the Lord is His gladness in providing “a door in the wall” to enter into covenant with Him; that there is a way for us to come into His Presence and fellowship with Him! This was his desire from the beginning: To live in a covenant relationship with mankind!

Ever since Eden, God desired family! He established Eden as a place where we could live together with Him and enjoy each other’s company! After Eden, we see that God, again and again, creates “doors in the wall” through different covenants. God has always been in pursuit of man, and He continues to pursue every single human being ever created.

Under the Mosaic Covenant, the door was the LAW. Now we have a new door! Jesus is the door! In John 10:7 Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep.’” Again, a couple of verses after, He repeats, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)

Let’s conclude! What makes YHVH happy? - YHVH rejoices that there is a door for us to come into fellowship with Him. The joy of YHVH is that He is able to enjoy being with us! The JOY OF THE LORD IS THE NEW COVENANT!

The author of Hebrews clarifies this even more for us: “For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:2). As a matter of fact, tradition tells us that as part of Passover in ancient Israel, Jesus would likely have been singing Psalm 118 on His way to the Garden where He would shortly be arrested, then prosecuted, and crucified, establishing the New Covenant.

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118:24)

Those were the words on our Savior’s lips as He went forth to become our forever door to fellowship with Yahweh; a door that never shuts; a door that is open to everyone who enters through.

Let’s go back to our ancient friends in Nehemiah Chapter 8: The Israelites in this very moment, standing there within the walls of God’s joy, and the literal walls of the rebuilt Jerusalem, understood the very nature of His goodness, His protection, His continuous mercy for them, and His unending desire to be their God and for them to be His people.

Once we understand Him, taste of His goodness, and realize that what He desires above all is communion with us and that He actually enjoys us; that is the beginning of our own rejoicing too!

Being filled with joy is also a commandment: Rejoice always! He wouldn’t say that if he didn’t mean it and didn’t give us the ability to do that. He wants to be so impressive to your understanding, that you just constantly walk around with a “wow” on your lips. He wants to blow your mind with His goodness!

This Joy of the Lord that is our strength has nothing to do with our circumstances. Don’t let what happens around you determine who you are or dictate your understanding of who He is. We can’t have joy and negativity at the same time. Joy always supersedes negativity. Try right now to focus on the goodness of God through Jesus, and how He longs to be with you, and then try to think of something negative at the same time. It’s impossible! When we live inside of the confines of JOY, of Chedvah, of the covenant that says that we are in forever fellowship with Him, we receive the full revelation of Him and His goodness!

This joy of the Lord may be inexplicable to the ones who don’t have the revelation of it yet. But it’s intriguing to them! It’s attractive! It’s the “Je ne sais quois”, the IT factor! It’s the light of the world, it’s the city on a hill. For the believer in Christ, the joy of the Lord comes as naturally as grapes on a vine. As we abide in Christ, the True Vine, we, the branches, are full of His strength and vitality, and the fruit we produce, including joy, is His doing (John 15:5). His joy becomes our joy!