Keeping My Joy

One of the great stirring truths of the Bible 

• is that if I look for justice from others I become a fool. 
• In moral and spiritual life if I have a sense of injustice, 
• I cease to be of value to my fellow men. 

Never should I waste my time looking for justice; 

• if I do I will soon put myself in bandages and give way to self-pity. 
• My business is to see that no one suffers from my injustice.

Whenever I think I have satisfied my ambition 

• I may suddenly become a miserable tyrant and all my joy will go. 
• “These things have I spoken unto you,” said Jesus, “that My joy may be in you”. 
• What joy did Jesus have? 

He failed apparently in everything He came to do; 

• all His disciples forsook Him, 
• He was crucified, and yet He talked of His joy. 
• The joy of Our Lord lay in doing what the Father sent Him to do. 

His purpose was not to succeed, 

• but to fulfill the design of His coming—
• “For I am come down from heaven not to do Mine own will, 
• but the will of Him that sent Me”.

What is the real design of my creation? 

• Solomon deals with every possible phase of life—
• metaphysics, philosophy, religion, commercial prosperity, moral integrity 
• not as guesswork, 
• he had been through it all, 
• no one has the wisdom of Solomon, 
• and his verdict is that it all ends in disaster. 

That is the summing up of it all 

• unless I see that my “chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him for ever,” 
• and it takes a long while to get there. 
• To put things on any other basis will end in disaster.

I also noticed that under the sun there is evil in the courtroom. 

Yes, even the courts of law are corrupt! 

Ecclesiastes 3:16 (NLT)

Adapted Excerpt From

Shade of His Hand

Oswald Chambers