Stop the Thief before He Robs You Again
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice. Psalm 51:7-8
Sin stings the conscience and saddens the heart. In the first century A.D., the Roman poet Juvenal wrote:
“Trust me, no tortures which the poets feign
Can match the fierce, unutterable pain
He feels, who, night and day, devoid of rest,
Carries his own accuser within his breast.”
Only one thing can take the joy that Jesus gives, and it’s not your circumstances, it’s your sin—not someone else’s sin, but your own. A disobedient child, an unfaithful husband, an ungodly government—these can’t take your joy. They didn't give it to you. Jesus gives it. It’s joy in the Lord.
When David wrote Psalm 51, he wasn’t lost, looking to be saved. He was a saved but miserable child of God, praying, “Restore to me the joy of Your salvation” (v. 12).
The most miserable man on earth is not a lost man but a saved man out of fellowship with God. Many unsaved people are having a ball, living high, wide and handsome. Never tell anyone they can't have pleasure if they're not saved. That’s a lie. The Bible speaks of “the pleasures of sin.” They last only for a season, but for that moment, they’re pleasurable.
When God saves you, God doesn't fix you where you can't sin anymore. He just fixes you where you can't sin and enjoy it anymore. If your joy is gone, you’ve been looking for it in the wrong places. You need to confess your sin and lay it down. Pray with David, “Lord restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.”
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