Be Full of Joy

Proverbs 8:22-31

Jesus wants you to be full of joy. He wants you to experience complete joy. He said, ‘I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete’ (John 15:11).

The description of personified Wisdom in today’s passage is echoed in the way the New Testament talks about Jesus. Jesus ‘was with God in the beginning’ (John 1:2) (compare Proverbs 8:23,30).

Wisdom is seen to be full of joy: ‘Day after day I was there, with my joyful applause, always enjoying his company, delighted with the world of things and creatures, happily celebrating the human family’ (Proverbs 8:30b–31, MSG).

This joy is overflowing – ‘filled with delight’ (v.30). It is constant – ‘day after day’ (v.30). Where does this joy come from?

First, it comes from God’s presence (‘in his presence’, v.30). Second, it comes from relationships with other people (‘the human family’, v.31, MSG). Third, it comes from God’s creation (‘world of things and creatures’, v.31, MSG). God has given us all good things richly to enjoy (1 Timothy 6:17). It is all yours in Christ Jesus.

The joy that Jesus experienced in his relationship with God the Father strengthened him in his life on earth. Fix your ‘eyes on Jesus… who for the joy set before him endured the cross’ (Hebrews 12:2–3). Jesus teaches us to aim high with our own lives, never just ‘making do’ but enduring hardships and always seeking the joy of God’s presence.