I Shout JOY

I shout JOY!

We can’t deny that God is doing something. He has been directing and calling us into something deeper and different for a few years now. This has been a stretching season, an exciting season, and a restorative season for many who sense this shifting and call from the Lord. As I prayed about writing this blog today amidst so many unknowns, the Lord led me to the book of Ezra, a passage stuck out to me so clearly and I have been praying and processing why… 

“But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy. No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.” Ezra 3:12,13

Isn’t that an interesting couple of verses? Doesn’t it seem confusing? It did to me. As I have been praying I feel the tension, the sorrow, the joy. Its a real rollercoaster of deep feelings and experiences that the generations were having together at the same time! 

There was a rebuilding of the old, the ancient foundation of the former temple. The older generation had experienced the original temple, there was great joy as the work began, but when the work was finished on the foundation the emotions were mixed with sorrow and weeping, because they realized that what they built could not compare with what had originally been, what they had seen and experienced long ago. There was a profound realization and a profound mix of emotions for this generation.

But the younger generation had not ever experienced what the older generation had, in fact they grew up in a totally different world than the former, all they had ever known was a broken, crumbled, shadow of a mess that had once stood strong and anointed. Basically they only ever encountered the ruins, not the Glory of what once had been. So when the foundation was laid, they were ready to rejoice, to celebrate, they were only at the beginning of a season of restoration of something they had only ever heard about and not experienced! The younger were beginning a journey.

I value both responses, both generations, both the weeping and the joy. 

No matter what we see happen in the days ahead in this world we need to focus on the spiritual, the eternal. God is doing something. He is calling ALL generations to build, restore, weep, and shout for JOY. 

This world is not our home, but while we are here we can BUILD, RESTORE, WEEP for the PRESENCE of God, and shout for JOY! The mix and tension of what we are called to is an indication of the profoundness of the call, the season, and the anointing that is to come in these days ahead.

I will no longer continue to weep without JOY. I will lean into what the prophet Haggai declared to those people on that day.

“Be strong, all you people of the land,’ declares the Lord, ‘and work. For I am with you,’ declares the Lord Almighty… And my Spirit remains among you. Do not fear.’ “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and what is desired by all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the Lord Almighty…’The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,’ says the Lord Almighty. ‘And in this place I will grant peace,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” Haggai 2:1-9

The future glory is going to be even better than the former! This is a promise that will find its fulfillment because of the work of Christ! Amen Church, let's live for that, knowing that our days are filled with profound and meaningful work ahead of us! 

Love and Prayers today!