What we need is not ‘joy’ in some vague sense, or even a ‘joy’ that comes from ‘salvation’ in the multitude of ways this has been construed. Rather, the joy we need and the only joy that truly satisfies the human spirit is that which God alone can give, through his gracious salvation. In it God deals with the one thing that has plunged our race into misery – our sin, its guilt and its consequences – through the atonement he provides. But simultaneously he restores the joy that was lost to our race in Adam’s first sin: the joy of communion with God. The heart of God’s salvation is reconciliation: of God to sinners and sinners to God.

In the American Declaration of Independence, ‘the pursuit of happiness’ was listed along with ‘Life’ and ‘Liberty’ as one of three ‘inalienable rights’ common to all people. It is a striking and curious inclusion. But, whatever lay behind its place in this history-making document, it recognises that joy lies at the very heart of our humanity.

Around 130 years earlier another distinguished group, the men of the Westminster Assembly, enshrined joy in a very different document: the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Answering the question, ‘What is man’s chief end?’ they not only stated: ‘Man’s chief end is to glorify God’; but added, significantly, ‘…and to enjoy him forever.’ This too, in the deepest possible way, acknowledges that to be joyful is of the essence of what it means to be human.

The Westminster divines were simply recognising the fact that joy is woven deep into the tapestry of God’s revelation in Scripture. From the pristine joy of Eden to the incomparably greater joy of heaven, it can be traced – even through the worst of times – through the history of redemption.

It is strange, therefore, that joy so often seems to be missing from Christian experience and, more so, even from worship. Even where Christians do seek to incorporate it into their life and worship, it often feels synthetic and comes across as a cheap imitation of the deep, enduring joy in the Bible.

This theme could hardly be more relevant to the world we live in. The American dream of ‘happiness’ seems further away than ever. The world at large appears to be sliding ever more deeply into a joyless existence. Yet the yearning for joy lives on, no matter how unattainable it may be.

So, in terms of gospel opportunity, for those who, in Adam, ‘have been subjected to a life of toil and misery’, Christ’s declaration, ‘I have come that they may have live and have it to the full’ (Jn 10.10) should be shouted loud and clear. But for that to happen, those who supposedly have this new life should display it in their own lives in order to commend it to others.

All of this gives good reason to explore the theme of joy in Scripture more seriously than perhaps we do. Indeed, nowhere should this be more so than in churches that claim to be ‘Reformed’. The Westminster Shorter Catechism was not compiled by men who treated doctrine lightly; yet they chose to embed joy in the very first line of the summary of all they believed. So, all who claim this heritage should be marked by joy in all its rich dimensions.

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