The epidemic of lost joy

A pull quote from DaySpring contributing writer Tyra Rains reads,

Have you noticed that people have become unjoyful at an alarming rate? The lack of joy seems to be an epidemic in our world.

My husband, Darian, and I are pastors at a church in Oklahoma. On the third Sunday of each month, we have a time of prayer where our church staff stands at the front of the stage, available to pray for anyone who comes forward. This has always been such a beautiful and powerful moment in the service. Over the years, we’ve seen people healed of incurable diseases, set free from addictions, stand in the gap for loved ones, receiving unexplainable financial increase, achieving pregnancy after being told it was impossible and so much more. 

So often during these prayer moments, individuals come up asking for their joy to be restored. They say things like they’ve lost their spark, they aren’t happy anymore or they just want to laugh again.  

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There are so many reasons why we can lose our spark.  

We can let the circumstances of life overwhelm us, a relationship may have more tension than we want it to, or maybe our health isn’t where we expected it to be. The reasons for a lack of joy are innumerable and, oftentimes, what we would even call justifiable.  

But what if justifying each hard scenario is actually stealing our joy more than the scenario itself?  

I have a friend who is actively fighting cancer with the best attitude and a constant smile on her face. She has decided that this opposition in her life will not steal her joy.  

This past week, I spent some time reading through the Psalms King David wrote and comparing them to where he was when they were written. Talk about someone who had plenty of reasons to lose his joy! He was betrayed by his own children, by someone who was a father figure to him, and by entire cities he personally bent over backwards to protect. David had every reason to justify being unhappy based on the circumstances in his life.  

But he knew God.  

David had a personal relationship with God that was bigger than any situation he faced. In Psalm 59, David is responding to Saul sending men to unjustly hunt and kill him. David hadn’t done anything wrong to Saul. He wasn’t talking badly about him to the other soldiers. There were no lies being spread. He hadn’t betrayed him or stolen from him. It was actually the opposite—David was living his life to serve Saul in every way he could. Some of you can relate. You have given your life to someone who has hurt or betrayed you.   

Yet David doesn’t retaliate. He goes to the Lord. He gets out a journal and begins to tell God how he feels. It’s okay to let the Lord know how we feel and what we’re going through. But David doesn’t sit in self‑pity. He quickly turns things around and imagines the Lord’s response to his adversaries. In verse 8, he points out that the Lord actually laughs at those chasing him.  

What a great image of the Lord. I picture any hero movie where the villain thinks he’s winning, yet the hero knows what’s really about to happen and gets that great smirk. That’s what the Lord does when we go to Him with any of our needs. He simply laughs at our enemies because He knows they can’t win—because they can’t beat Him. It’s too late. Jesus has already won!  

This picture of God alone can bring back our joy. But just in case we don’t get it, look at what David says in Psalm 59:16–17 (NLT):  

“But as for me, I will sing about your power.
Each morning I will sing with joy about your unfailing love.
For you have been my refuge,
a place of safety when I am in distress.
O my Strength, to you I sing praises,
for you, O God, are my refuge,
the God who shows me unfailing love.” 

David never lets his circumstances dictate his joy. The Bible is an example for all of us to follow. If we do the things David did, we will get the results David got.  

When we realize that even though hard things are happening around us, God is still for us—and He laughs on our behalf—it becomes easy to find joy again. 

The other day, I was told about a girl who thought God hated her because she had some hard things going on in her life. No. That’s just called living. Jesus told us we would have trouble in this world, but in the same breath He told us to take heart because He has overcome the world (John 16:33). David’s circumstances never changed his view of God, but his view of God always changed his circumstances.  

Today, if you’re needing some joy back in your life, get your eyes on the Lord. He’s laughing at your enemies. He knows the outcome. Our family has a saying: we don’t let our circumstances tell us what to do; we tell our circumstances what to do.

You can do that, too.  

Take heart—your King has overcome the world and every one of your circumstances. He is your strength and your source of joy. In the words of Nehemiah, the joy of the Lord is your strength. The Bible never said your life situations were to be the source of your joy. It’s the Lord.  

Choose joy today, my friend. God does not hate you. He is madly in love with you, He is for you and He has already won. 

A black and white portrait of DaySpring contributing author Tyra Rains.

Tyra Rains is a wife, mom, coco, friend and author of "Virtue: Living Uncommon in a Common World." Her passion is pastoring alongside her husband and making sure everyone she meets encounters the goodness of God. Tyra loves time with her crew, laughing, sunshine and jeepin’. Learn more about her at http://wearevirtue.org/.