How to Have Joy in the Midst of Suffering

In this episode of Everyday Radical, David Platt and Austin Huang explore how real joy is found in God alone.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Welcome to Everyday Radical, a podcast where we help the everyday Christian follow Jesus and make him known everywhere. We pray that today's episode encourages you to do just that. So let's dive right in. A few years ago, I was back in college and I was involved with this ministry on campus, and there was this role that I was thinking about applying for or doing, and I was just like, I don't know if I should. I wasn't really feeling the joy in it. I wasn't really feeling the direction from God in it. Um, partially because I was just, I think, being selfish with my time and prioritizing other things. Anyway, I'm just sitting with the Lord and I'm just like, God, like, just show me a sign. And so, as you do, you know, you flip open the Bible to a random page, and I flipped to Psalm 16, 11. And that for me was just like such confirmation. You make known to me the path of life in your presence, there's fullness of joy at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. I don't know why that was the confirmation for me, but it just felt like it was. Um, and so today's episode we're gonna be talking about joy. And I think for for this kind of to set the stage, I want to ask the like the deep question of why does joy feel so fleeting? Because I think there's so many things that should bring us joy in life. Like even the breath in our lungs should bring us joy, but why does it feel so fleeting for Christians?

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Wow, I man, I I think Psalm 1611 is the answer. Yeah. And I'm actually I'm I'm kind of laughing. I did a a breakout at a conference recently where I was like, I talked about the rant random finger method for discovering God's will. Like just open up the Bible and whatever it is, like that's God's will for your life. But it it actually worked for you. So it's not like a uh, yeah, I'd say it's uh some I'm just trying to think of all the times I did that, and it was some totally ran random verse. But man, I'm glad it was a good verse for you in that moment. Exactly what I need. But I actually think that verse is the answer. Because okay, in your presence there's fullness of joy, so not fleeting, like fullness at your right hand are pleasures forevermore. So, okay, well, that means if my joy is fleeting, then it's because I'm seeking joy in something else other than God. Because joy in him is never fleeting, pleasure in him will last forever. Okay, well then uh who or what am I seeking for joy or trusting for joy or looking to for joy? And it's not that uh so even as I say that, okay, now another text is coming to my mind, 1 Timothy 6. God gives us good things to enjoy. He's the author of all kinds of good gifts. Like I can name innumerable good gifts in my life, people in my life, things in my life, just so much. He's been so gracious to me. But I guess that's all right, so now that's the key, then, right? That we really do find our source of joy in the giver of those gifts and not in the gifts themselves. Such that when Joe won, the gift is taken away, gifts are taken away, we can say, the Lord gave, the Lord took away. Yeah. Blessed be the name of the Lord. I still have the one who is the one who gave all these things to me in the first place. So I think whenever we find ourselves with fleeting joy, it's actually a good opportunity for us to ask the question, what is our ultimate source of joy here? Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Yeah, no, that's really good. I I think of like I don't know what what your take on it, I would love to hear, but joy and happiness. Like, I feel like sometimes um I I know they're like synonyms of each other in a way, but I like the the uh phrase that people say is like happiness is temporary, joy is eternal. Maybe that's not like super accurate, but that for me helps me understand, like, okay, well, then circumstantially, if things are going well, I can be happy right now, but ultimately I know that my joy is found in Christ and Him alone.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

Yeah, I think so. I would actually uh uh uh Randy Alcorn was really helpful for me in this, like walking through uh I think about Psalm one, like blessed is the man uh who walks down the console like and stands in life, such as sits in the seat of scoffers, but it's delights in the law of the Lord on his law. So that picture of delight. But that word blessing is actually like happy, yeah. And so biblically, there's actually, I I don't know. Uh I do think the distinction you're making is is helpful just in different having two different categories. I'm not sure if I would put it in. I think we're actually, I mean, we're supposed to be happy in God like all the time. Uh like all the time. No, that doesn't mean so. If if if you're I mean, always, what do we mean by certain words? But if happy means, oh, you're just like this light laughter-filled moment, like, no, of course not. Like, that's that's why, yes, Paul would say in 2 Corinthians 7, sorrowful yet always rejoicing. So there's a there's a way to have sorrow and joy, but I would even say there's a way to have sorrow and happiness. And and then, okay, well, how is that possible? And now I'm thinking about Mueller's quote. Like, my business every day, George Mueller, is uh, and my first chief, most important thing in every day is to be happy in God. Um, but that's again, so now we're going back to joy, happiness when it's found ultimately in God and not in the circumstances of this world, then uh then it's possible to experience a happiness and joy all the time. I I I this is not just theoretical either. This is just kind of personally for me. Uh, I remember that I was having my time with the Lord one morning. This was during like the Christmas season recently, and uh I had like a I I usually have a playlist that I listen to when I'm spending my time with the Lord, just my like a quiet time playlist. I put it on shuffle. It's kind of my random finger method, yeah. Uh but so I'm just like trusting the Lord's gonna direct the shuffling to whatever songs I need to be uh singing uh based on this playlist I've got. And uh um so all these songs, I had like kind of a Christmas worship playlist that I was using, and all it's like every song was like joy, joy, joy. And honestly, I was walking through just some really heavy, hard days. And at first I was like, I just I don't think I can take it. And I so I was like, I was like, okay, not that one. And so I just moved to the next song, and the next song was another joy song. It's like, all right, move to another one, and they were all joy songs, and but then I just kind of sense the Lord saying, Hey, like this is possible. This is this is the miracle of my Holy Spirit in you, yeah. That yeah, things are hard right now, and yes, there's a reason your heart's heavy, uh, grieving. Uh, there's a reason, yeah, you're in tears right now. And and in my presence there is fullness of joy. Like, and and then it's like, okay, well, how is that possible? How is it possible to have joy in grief and joy in heaviness and joy and sorrow? Well, because you know, like you're clinging to all these truths about who God is, about what God says, about the fact that suffering is not the end. Like that, that gives me a lot of joy to know this is whatever grief I'm walking through is not the end of the story, that whatever heaviness I'm walking through is not the end of the story. This is not the last chapter here. And uh, so there's hope in that. There's uh, I mean, this is why Paul can say in Philippians 4, rejoice always in all circumstances, uh, to rejoice. First Thessalonians 5 says the same thing. I mean, over and over and over again, um, that we can be joyful. Why? Because we have God. And I man, I I think about one thing Piper said when we were talking with him, when he just said, When the world is like life and the world is falling apart around you, and you have joy, what that proclaims, not just to the world, but to even your own heart, okay, he's he is fullness of joy. And so take it all away, and I still have joy. And that what a powerful way to live, but it's a fight to live in it, a fight for joy in that sense, to just keep reminding yourself, okay, Lord, I I want this joy, uh, I want to experience this joy that's found in you, uh, even though these things are not going the way that I want them to go, or things these things are really, really heavy, and I'm hurting in particular ways.

SPEAKER_02 8:44

Well, that's why I what I love so much about the Christian hedonism idea that God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him. And like it's it's honestly like it's an offensive thing to I guess the flesh or the the desire to work for our righteous own righteousness. Like it's an offensive thing to think that that God wants us to seek our joy. You know, like it feels weird to think that God would want us to seek our own joy, but if that's how he designed us, created us, and is that if that's actually how he gets the most glory, then like I think there's permission there for someone listening to this, someone watching this. Like God's not like, yes, there is a sense of self-denial, you know, carry your cross, pick up your cross daily, crucify your flesh. But the the whole point of what Christ says, like, uh, my yoke is easy, my burden is light. It's not uh when you do my commandments, like he's not saying that out of a I'm gonna force you to do this against your will. It's like I'm freeing your will to come into alignment with the truth of that God is glorified in you when you seek joy in him.

SPEAKER_01 9:48

So good. Yes, and and not even just permission, but like uh encouragement, like command. Like, so I'm gonna I'm gonna put together Psalm 16 where you started in my presence, there's in the in my presence, there's fullness of joy, right hand pleasures forevermore. And then we're commanded. So I'm going to Psalm 27. Uh, you have said, Seek my face. Like that's a command. Uh, and so your face, oh Lord, do I seek. And this is a picture of okay, he's saying, seek my joy. Yeah, in my face, in my presence, there's fullness of joy. So seek it, seek the joy that like I'm commanding you. That's a good command. It's kind of like the John 15 abiding, my love, which even that's another great example. Because then he goes on to say, right after that, he said, I write these things to you or say these things to you, so that my joy may be in you and your joy may be full. Like God wants my joy. Even in the hardest moments of life, he wants He wants me to experience joy. That's that's awesome. And and it's again that we were talking about this as we're talking about the fruit of the Spirit. That's only supernaturally possible. Only the Holy Spirit can produce that in us. This is what I was I was actually having a conversation with my uh wife about this this morning with Heather, and we're we're talking about, and yeah, she was just expressing some struggles, and I was just praying over her, uh, and really over us, and just saying, Lord, we help us to live in the resources you've made possible for us, including the joy that you've made possible for us. Help us to live in it. Um man, one other thing that's come to my mind, uh this was uh Matthew chapter five, when uh Jesus says, um rejoice and be glad when people speak all kinds of falsely, evil falsely against you on my account. How do you do that? How do you rejoice? So you get slandered, how do you rejoice? How how do you how do you see people saying something about you and be like, and and it's really interesting? Luke's account, Jesus says leap for joy. Like, how do you do that? How do you how do you how are you getting like criticized, canceled, slander, whatever, and you're like, whoa, this is awesome, leap for joy. How do you do that? That's that's that's a supernatural thing. That there's nothing natural about rejoicing in those moments, nothing natural, it's totally supernatural. Um, but it's clearly possible he's actually commanding it. Rejoice and be glad. That's a command to rejoice and be glad. So, okay, well, how is that possible? Well, it's definitely not possible if your joy is found in what others say about you, right? No way that that's impossible. The only way that's possible is if you're focused on what God says about you. That's the only way it's possible. And so this is where, oh man, there's so much here, Austin. Uh I this is where I'm so thankful for hard days and even like genuinely for slander. Because uh, yes, yes, it's yeah, one day we're not gonna have to deal with these things uh free from sin and evil and sorrow in this world. But while we're here, while we're here, it's actually these things that show, reveal how we're seeking our joy and what people say about us. Because when that hurts, it's like okay. Well, apparently I am looking to that for some joy. Or uh, and and it's like an opportunity to recalibrate and say, nope, I don't need to seek my joy there because the praise of men is fleeting. Yeah, like I need to seek my joy in God alone, because his word is sure. Uh and so this these are ways that God refines us and leads us to deeper joy than we ever could have imagined when part of our joy was bound up in what others say about us or or what our circumstances were in this world. When those things are stripped away and you're like, whoa, I mean it's Job 42. Now I've seen you. Whoa, I've seen you in a way I never imagined you. So uh when we struggle for joy, I guess maybe the takeaway is just ask God, what are you what are you doing in my life to help me press into deeper joy in you through this?

SPEAKER_02 14:17

That's so good. And I trust that this will be a huge encouragement for people, not not to manufacture this joy and be like, okay, well, if all these songs are like you said on your shuffle, like if they're all about joy, then I just have to sing for joy. No, no, no, that God is giving you permission to also wrestle with this. Like I think to 2 Corinthians 12, like Paul is pleading with God, take this thorn of uh away from me, this thorn of my flesh away from me. But then he concludes by saying, uh, okay, well, you know, God said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. And so Paul says, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. And so in his boasting, like just a couple verses earlier, he says, like, this isn't good. I don't like this, but I'm going to boast. And I think when when I think of the word boast, there has to be a little bit of joy in it. Um, so even when he says, for the sake of Christ, for the sake of Christ, and I'm content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, calamities, for when I'm weak, then I'm strong. And so that that for me has just reshaped the way I think about my Christian life. That in the moments when I am tired, when I am exhausted, when I am beat down and and bogged down by the weight of the world around me, I can actually look up to heaven and say, This is great. I get to rest in the fact that I am weak. I am not God. This is not on my shoulders to carry this world. I I get to rest in the fact that the God of the universe is holding all things together by the power of his word and what he has spoken. And I don't have to, I don't have to tread trudge along trying to keep everything together that I can just let go and and in a way let God, you know, let him lead me in this way.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

Man, so good. I I just I think about the other texts that are coming to mind that that goes to are, yeah, he didn't like the storm in the flesh, but he he could rejoice in what it was producing, a greater dependence on God, a greater, like you said, awareness of his own weakness. And that's what all the texts about joy. I think about Paul, James, like Romans 5, we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. So we're rejoicing in hope. Like this is not the end, there's more here. And then he goes on to say, not only that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance, faith, and all these different things that he's producing. The same thing in James, James 1. Consider it joy, my brother, whenever you face trials of any kind of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. And you keep reading on, it's like so you may be mature and complete, not lacking in anything. Like, who doesn't want that? I don't want to be lacking in anything. I want to be like full life. And he says that's that's actually what trials of many kinds produce as you press into God, a maturity, a completion, not lacking in anything, a fullness, and again, back around to where you started, a fullness of joy that really is only found in God, that can't be found in the things of this world that is available for us to live in by the fruit of his spirit in us.

SPEAKER_02 17:30

Yeah, it's so good. David, for somebody who might be listening, who is hearing what we're saying, and they're they're saying, Okay, I like that. I like what you're saying about joy in the suffering, but I just feel like the weight of the world is on my shoulders, and I can't seem to get a glimpse of God the way you guys are saying. Would you mind praying for that person to just be able to, like TA said that other episode, not get a glimpse, but rather gaze upon him to behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world?

SPEAKER_01 17:59

I totally want to pray that, and I just want to say, um, and yeah, I've I've not like shared like specifics, I've referenced different things just in my own journey, but um, yeah, I'll just go ahead and say it. Like my time with the Lord this morning, uh before we uh even had this conversation, I don't even think, yeah, I didn't know we were gonna have this conversation, but in this in my time with the Lord this morning, like as I'm journaling, I'm like, Lord, I'm I'm really struggling for joy. Like that's what I was writing out. Uh like I don't I don't know where the lines are of depression and clinical depression or this or that, but I just I was like, I just feel really low today, God. And uh and I wouldn't, yeah, I've felt low in in recent days, but I I just so I all the things we've said that just don't, they're not theoretical. Like this is the overflow of I me pressing in this morning to saying, Spirit of God, I need the joy that only you can give. And so, God, I do pray for that over every single person who's listening to this right now as I pray that over this over with Austin and myself. Uh, God, we want to experience the fullness of joy that you promise are at your right hand. We want to experience pleasure forevermore.

SPEAKER_00 19:27

And God, we praise you, there is nothing in this world that can give us that. Nothing, no one. So wean us off of this world.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

Help us to see, just as you were helping me to see this morning, how I was looking to things in this world, circumstances in this world to f as the source of my joy. God help us to to let go of that endless, fruitless quest and help us to hold on to and cling to and experience. God, I pray for every person who's listening to this and for Austin and for my own heart. Help us, God, to experience the fullness of joy that you promise to us as we seek you, as we trust in you, as we worship you, as we wait on you, as we rest in you. And we we praise you, God, for uh the promise that one day uh all the griefs and sorrows and heaviness of this world will be gone. You'll wipe away every tear from our eyes, and we will experience unhindered, unhindered communion with you in fullness of joy with pleasures forevermore. We love you, God. Thank you, thank you for who you are. We praise you as the giver of all good gifts and the source of all joy. We pray for this fruit of the Spirit in our lives. In Jesus' name, who makes all this possible. Amen.

SPEAKER_02 21:10

Thanks so much for listening to this episode of Everyday Radical. We pray that it encouraged you in many ways. We do this every single week, so be sure to subscribe or follow to not miss the next episode. We'll see you then.