We have sown the wind in our country and we are reaping the whirlwind.

No, our nation is not filled with the joy of the Lord today because the Lord is shoving our lusts down our throat. We have desired to continue in our giddy way and so we have received this garbage as our daily portion.

Joy! The wicked cannot know joy. Joy is possible only as we are rightly related to the Lord God. We are rightly related to the Lord God of Heaven only as we walk in righteousness, holiness, and stern obedience to Him.

We seek joy but we cannot find it. This is because we do not know what joy is. We strive frantically for fun, but fun brings remorse and sometimes sickness and death. We want to live in pleasure, and so we amass as much money as possible hoping for early retirement and a life of going from place to place in a huge vacation trailer. But then there are medical problems as well as concerns over the children and grandchildren.

We lust and desire to possess so we may consume what we get on our own pleasures. We assist the poor and needy of the world as long as we are not inconvenienced.

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don't they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don't get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures. (James 4:1-3—NIV)

Rich people are often the most miserable of all because they are confusing joy with the possession of things.

Again let me say, if you are to endure your cross, carrying it to its successful conclusion, you must have joy set before you. Ask God now for joy. If something in your personality or behavior is preventing joy, God will show you so you may repent and obtain deliverance.

You may be facing a dangerous operation, or poverty, or the breakup of your home, or some other threatening, seemingly deadly disaster. Ask for joy. Unlike fun, pleasure, and enjoyment, joy is independent of circumstances. God will give you joy because He knows you cannot survive apart from joy. It is joy that is your strength for the battle!

And then there is the joy that will come "in the morning." Weeping may continue for a season, but your joy is certain if you obey the Lord in all matters. When your desire is fulfilled it will be a tree of life and the Lord will add no sorrow with it.

Set your affection on things above. You will be with Jesus some day if you do not turn from the path of righteousness. Then the joy that has kept you from falling will explode into a rainbow of glory, praise, and fulfillment. The cross will be lifted from your back. You will be gloriously, marvelously home!

And there will be Jesus who has made all this possible.

"You have been a good, faithful servant. Now enter the joy of your Lord."

It is not possible to put down in writing what will take place after that. The English language does not contain the descriptive language and the human mind cannot contain the glory—the glory reserved for those who love God.

While the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? (Job 38:7—NIV)

To be continued.