Have you ever fallen into the trap that you need to fake happiness in order to be loved by God? We feel like we have to put on a happy church face to show God, and others, that we are worth loving. But this is not how the love of God operates. Even on our hardest and darkest of days, we can have joy knowing that the love of our Heavenly Father is not contingent on the front we put on.
For us to grasp the deep, real joy that can only be found in the Lord, we first need to understand that we are infinitely loved in the moments when we don’t have a smile left to give. We are infinitely loved when there is not a happy or positive thought within our minds.
In the moment you said yes to Jesus being your Lord and savior, you were not saved because you were having a good day. You were saved because of the atoning work of Jesus Christ. I love how this verse describes those who will enter the land of Zion to be rescued. Because in order to be rescued, you first have to be in a place of absolute brokenness and hopelessness.
And yet, God chose us in our pain, sin, and sorrow to be His children. We don’t dismiss our earthly pain and sorrow because we know that they are very real. However, we cling to the joy of our salvation in all circumstances. Thanks be to God that one day, our sorrow and our sighing will flee away. Gladness and joy will overtake all of the pain of this world. Praise God that because of His great love, we can have an everlasting joy.