”Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.“ ‭Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭12‬

We’ve been talking about joy-killers this week. Those things in our lives that can take away, or appear to take away the joy promised to us through the birth of Jesus.

Joy-killers can be a result of the actions of others, or natural things that happen in life such as life transitions, grief over the loss of a loved one, natural disasters, etc.

While actions against us, or those actions we perceive are against us, can rob us of joy, I think one of the hardest joy-killers to deal with are the self-inflicted ones. It’s relatively easy to point the finger at others and play the victim. It’s easy to blame Mother Nature and say, ‘Woe is me’. But what about those times when you look in the mirror and realize the person you see is both the perpetrator and the victim? Then what?

That was the decision King David faced. His enemies were largely defeated. He was popular among the people. And God had a nickname for him, ‘A man after my own heart.’ Imagine that! The God of all creation looking down on you and seeing someone so in tune with His heart that he calls him out. God says, ‘HUGE SHOUT OUT to my buddy Dave. He’s got it all together. He knows what I like and he does it!’

Pretty cool, right? Not so fast. David had a heart for God but he also had a heart for pleasure and sometimes pleasure took the place of God.

Can you relate? Oh, maybe you didn’t have an affair and murder one of your friends like David did. Maybe you didn’t see your daughter raped and ignore it. But what about the other ways we choose satisfaction over surrender?

Those times we gossip. The times we lie and then lie to cover up that lie, and then lie again…well, you know the picture. The times we harbor wrongs committed. The times we hang on to judgmental attitudes.

Surrender brings joy, satisfaction (in the human sense) destroys joy. I love David’s honesty in ‭Psalms‬ ‭51‬:‭12‬, ”Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and make me willing to obey you.“

David knew his limitations. David knew how easy it is to sacrifice surrender for satisfaction. But David also knew the joy that comes from total surrender to God’s ways. Easy? Definitely not. Worth it? Beyond description. Available? That’s grace.

The joy of Christmas is much more than a babe in a manger. It’s being totally surrendered to God through the power of the Holy Spirit, because of the babe in the manger.