Pastoral Counsel – Jen Miller
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Jen is a…
Key to this series on JOY (bottom of page).
Joy is referenced the fourth time in the Old Testament (KJV) in 1 Kings 1:40: “And all the people came up after him, and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them.” (1 Kings 1:39-41 in Context).
Once again, the transliteration for ‘joy’ is Simchah. King David had just crowned his son, Solomon, as King, and the people rejoiced with a full-blown, all out celebration.
Unlike the I Samuel text we looked at in Part 3 – where all the ‘women’ came with dancing and singing, full of joy – in this I Kings text, joy “in the most full sense” was displayed by “all the people.” Their happiness was acted out through music, instruments (pipes), in such a powerful way that the sound actually broke open the earth!! Now that’s some powerful rejoicing! In my entire lifetime, I’ve never experienced a group of God’s people so filled with exuberant joy that their rejoicing shook the earth open like an earthquake. Can you imagine?
When I first read this I Kings text, I immediately thought of Luke 19:40: “I tell you,” [Jesus] replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” He was responding to the Pharisees in the crowd who had just said to Him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” For “the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen…”
If mankind does not praise God for who He is, for the miracles He performs on our behalf day in and day out… elements of the earth itself will respond with loud, joyful praise to the Creator. There must be praise to God.
Hebrews 13:15 says, “…let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.” There are no conditions and circumstances tied in to when and how we should praise Him. We are to praise Him “continually,” regardless of circumstances or how we ‘feel’ emotionally. Can you imagine being shackled in prison? How about being shackled in prison and singing praises to God aloud? This is what Paul chose to do. This ties back in with what we discovered from Deuteronomy in part one of our study. God’s expectation of mankind is our praise, our thanks, to Him with joy ‘in the most full sense,’ regardless of whether of not we’re circumstantially fueled in our emotions to feel happiness.
Acts 16:25 “And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them.”
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Not only does God expect our JOYFUL praise because of who He is and what He does on our behalf, but as a witness to others. When we are praising God at “midnight,” metaphorically in the darkest hours of our life, when we are chained and imprisoned by circumstances, there is no greater testament to others of our HONOR, FAITH, HOPE, LOVE, BELIEF in our God. It’s easy to be joyful with praise when everything is going well. The true test and testimony of our faith comes when we can joyfully praise Him in the worst and darkest times.
This 1 Kings 1:40 text we’ve examined today pulls both of the previous joy scriptures together:
1. God’s expectation of our joyful praise to Him in the most full sense;
2. Responding naturally to the acts of God on our behalf with joy ‘in the most full sense’.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-17 “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
Joy Copyright 2010 Jen Miller – All Rights Reserved
Key for this study:
The Old Testament text language is Hebrew. Hebrew has several words for joy that is fascinating, each with different shades of meaning, graded in order of its intensity:
‘Simcha’ means happiness in the most full sense.
‘Gila’ is a stronger sensation of joy but more temporary, fleeting and worldly
‘rina’ is a joy related to singing and shouting.
‘ditza’ is joy related to dancing.
‘hanaah’ is enjoyment of something specific – like a food you enjoy.
NOTE: Throughout this study I’ll be using the King James Version of scripture as my research base for all 187 references, as this version is known to be the most accurate in translation from the original Hebrew and Greek text from which we have gained the Word of God. I don’t want man’s perspective on joy; I want God’s, so I want to uncover joy in the most literal translation. For ease of understanding, however, I will be incorporating the KJV’s joy words into the NIV scriptures, as the NIV is the next closest translation in accuracy, yet easier to understand. In other words, I’ll be inserting in the NIV text the original ‘joy’ words from the KJV where it might otherwise be substituted in translation in the NIV. The KJV ‘joy’ words I insert into the NIV scriptures will be indicated with italics and underlining so you can quickly identify which words are from the KJV.
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