Scripture:

Nehemiah 8:10
Then he said to them, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet,
and send portions to him who has nothing prepared;
for this day is holy to our Lord.
Do not be grieved, for the joy of the LORD is our strength. (NASB)

Observation:

After the High Priest Ezra, with some help from the Levites, read and explained God’s Law, the people of Israel, including Ezra, were filled with sorrowful remorse and wept, not only for their rebellion against God, but also for the terrible consequences that their sin brought upon the entire nation of Israel. It was then that the governor, Nehemiah, told his people to rejoice in this day of revelation; the day when they not only came to understand both their sin and its punishment, but most importantly, the saving grace of the merciful and Almighty God.

Application:

As I ponder my days gone past, I realize that the word “joy” was a word I only heard during the Christmas season; a word that had no true significance for me other than a temporary feeling that masked my pain of living too many years without hope. For the first fifty-five years of my life I can remember times when I did feel the joy of Christmas tugging at my heart even though I could not grasp the incredible message of hope that Christmas brings. But now with humble thanksgiving, I am able to understand and believe with confidence that God has walked among us on earth, fully man, yet fully God (Luke 1:35). He came to show us the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). It is God’s nature to save that which is lost (Luke 19:10) and there is no better reason for rejoicing, my dear friends, than celebrating the human birth of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Knowing the Truth of Christmas can bring the kind of joy which can be celebrated every single day of the year. It is the true joy of Christmas that gives us hope when we are hopeless; that gives us strength when we have no strength left; and gladness when there is nothing but sorrow. This amazing joy you experience in knowing that the God of all creation is the same God who loves you enough to save you from a path of self-destruction to a path that brings life, is feeling the joy of heaven, which brings such a gladness to the heart that nothing of this world will ever be able take away from you.

Prayer:

Thank You for the joy that now fills a once joyless heart. What a precious gift You have given Your people, dear Lord; the gift of Light for a world engulfed in darkness; a gift we can all truly rejoice in no matter what this world brings, because the joy this Light brings is an everlasting joy that cannot be taken away!