Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.
Psalm 51:12
Restore Your Joy
Sometimes when we go through hard times, we lose the joy that God has placed in our hearts. David understood this very well when he wrote this Psalm. He had fallen away from the Lord and had committed damaging sin, and what was worse was that he didn’t even realize how bad it was until his friend Nathan came and described it to him. He became very grieved over his sin and wrote this Psalm. David had lost his joy, the joy of when he first met the Lord and experienced his salvation.
Joy is a different emotion than happiness. Happiness is a fleeting feeling; it is temporary. We experience this feeling when someone tells us something we like or when something happens that makes us happy. However, it is fleeting. It goes away as fast as it came because most of the things that bring us happiness go away as well. Joy is an eternal emotion. When God brought salvation, he instilled joy into the hearts of his people. So it isn’t really an emotion that goes away. It’s always there, but sometimes we cloud our view of joy by throwing distractions over it so we can’t see it. David pleaded with God to restore his joy once again. Do you need to plead with God to restore your joy today?
A Prayer to Remember
Dear Lord,
Only you can give the type of joy that is eternal and never goes away. I cloud my view of joy all the time. Bring me joy once again. May I remember what it was like when I experienced your salvation. Restore to me the joy of that salvation once again. Amen