Devotional Song: … GO TO THIS LINK … Please take the time to take in a YouTube video of images and lyrics from the British audience joining in and singing Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” or … Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee … joyously singing in chorus what should be the chorus of praise we Christians offer to Christ every day by the way we live for His glory.
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Highlight Verse[s]: 2nd Chronicles 7:10 [NLT] …
10 Then at the end of the celebration, Solomon sent the people home. They were all joyful and glad because the Lord had been so good to David and to Solomon and to his people Israel.
… It’s so much easier to be joyful when things are going well than when trials come.
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Highlight Passage [context]: 2nd Chronicles 7:1-10 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… God’s people were joyful when Solomon dedicated the Temple they had built for the Lord to His glory.
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Reference Passage #1 [NKJV] : … Psalm 100:1 [NLT] …
1 Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth.
… The song which was likely sung by God’s people in 2Chron. 7:1-10
Reference Passage #2 [NKJV] : … Habakkuk 3:17-18 [NLT] … USE THIS LINK …
… Habakkuk learned, from God, how to hold onto joy in the midst of any trial.
My Devotional Journal: Today's ODB author, Alyson Kieda, used a personal illustration to teach about the joy we should be expressing for God’s glory as we live our lives for His glory. The ODB author wrote: My granddaughter’s favorite tune is one of John Philip Sousa’s marches. Sousa, known as "The March King,” was a US composer in the late nineteenth century. Moriah isn’t in a marching band; she’s only twenty months old. She just loves the tune and can even hum a few notes. She associates it with joyful times. When our family gets together, we often hum this song along with claps and other boisterous noises, and the grandchildren dance or parade in circles to the beat. It always ends in dizzy children and lots of laughter.
But then again, it’s much easier to be filled with joy, or rather happiness, when we’re children or as adults when things are going well, … just as when King Solomon was dedicating the glorious Temple which God’s people had built for God under his leadership and King David’s plans [see highlight passage]. But God’s people really didn’t have such great track record of being so filled with joy, as in today’s linked song, when things were going against them … such as when there was famine or they were under attack from neighboring nations.
No, when things are tough, it’s much more difficult to sing an “Ode to Joy,” isn’t it? That’s why I so revel in the lesson of Habakkuk’s journal of trials and triumph in the OT book by His name. And as we read in Habakkuk 3:17-18, the disgruntled and joyless Prophet learned from God how to hold onto his joy no matter what the circumstances.
And I know that’s a lesson I need to reteach myself over and over again, … especially when I’m confused or frustrated by life. How about you?
My Prayer Today: Abba Father, … King Jesus, … I choose joy,… joy in You, rather than any happiness I might experience from Your providence. … Amen
Blogger Note: Everyday during this year, my daily devotional blogs are influenced by the reading and study of the online devotional blog entitled Our Daily Bread, distributed online via email by RBC Ministries. If you GO TO THIS LINK on the date of my blog, you can read/study the ODB blogs; or you can subscribe to the blog via email at that site.
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