"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy." 1 Peter 1:8
Joy rests not in us, but in Him. It is a fruit of the Spirit, an outpouring received. We do not rejoice in our own strength, rather we rejoice in the Lord. It is not in our power to grasp joy for it is a divine mystery that dwells in the most unusual of places.
The darkness swells, but it cannot overcome the light. Joy persists. The darkness, the looming cloud, despair, brokenness, the whelming flood, all that comes in the night, all bitterness, all fear, all doubt, all that impending doom that these words seem only to grasp, all of that cannot even comprehend the light. Joy comes at the revelation of this light. Joy comes at the revelation of the darkness as only shadows, dark yes, but of no substance. Joy is freedom.
Joy need not be giddy happiness, but neither need it be resignation. It is perception. It is vision of what has been, what is, and what will be without seeing. It is submission to that invisible vision and to the One who created all. In that submission comes freedom from having to understand and the freedom of trust, of letting go. And in that freedom comes joy.
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