Joy! Everybody wants joy, but all too few possess it. God's Word tells us why. We look for joy in all the wrong places. Where do YOU look for joy?

When the Bible speaks of joy, it means a sense that all is well or having a right and good frame of mind. And just like bread and water, we hunger for joy every day.

According to God's Word in Nehemiah, joy is born and sustained from an understanding of the truth ~ that God ALONE is the source of joy and the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Let's hear part of the reading from Nehemiah.

"When the seventh month came and the Israelites had settled in their towns, all the people assembled as one man in the square before the Water Gate. They told Ezra the scribe to bring out the Book of the Law of Moses. So on the first day of the seventh month Ezra the priest brought the Law before the assembly, which was made up of men and women and all who were able to understand. He read it aloud from daybreak till noon as he faced the square before the Water Gate in the presence of the men, women and others who could understand. And all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law. Ezra opened the book. All the people could see him, and as he opened it, the people all stood up. Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and all the people lifted their hands and responded, Amen! Amen! Then they bowed down and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. Nehemiah said, "Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared. This day is sacred to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength."

A couple of important notes. First, the text asks us to look through the eyes of another. Every morning when I leave for the church, my oldest daughter hears me pull out of the garage. She then gets out of bed, goes to her window and waves to me as I pull into the street. Every morning when I'm waving to her, I imagine what this looks like through her eyes. As I imagine looking through her eyes, I feel warmed. It's as if her heart and mine are one as we wave to each other in the morning. That's what this text from Nehemiah asks us to do ~ look through the eyes of the Lord. Imagine God's joy. And strangely, when we do, when we picture God's joy, it actually becomes our strength.

Second, the first day of the seventh month was set aside as the Feast of the trumpets, according to Leviticus 23. Because it was on a date of the month and not a particular Sabbath of the month, the feast would usually fall on a day that was actually a work day.

Now let's celebrate with the Word of God.

Our first celebration from this reading is that God wants us to have joy IN DAILY life. The joy of the Lord is not reserved just for special occasions. God wants us to know His joy on a daily basis.

We know this, for the reading says the "Israelites had settled in their towns." In other words, the excitement of moving from Babylon had worn away. They had settled into schedules and chores and errands and all that stuff which goes wish the routine of being settled.

Furthermore, the truth that God wants us to know His joy in daily life is evident in WHERE they gathered. THEY were gathered NOT at the temple courts, but at the Water Gate. SCHOLARS aren't sure of the EXACT purpose of the Water Gate, but come on, any of us who get our hands dirty KNOW why people would be at a water gate, for water to cook, to clean, to drink, to bathe, to tend the garden, to give a little life and brightness to the day. The people are at the Water Gate because daily life is the place where God brings joy.

And finally, note the people who are there, it's not a bunch of religious professionals. Instead, those gathered are men and women and all who were able to understand ~ ordinary people who were able to understand that daily life could not only use a cup of cold water for the body but also a splash of joy for the weary soul. Anybody out there looking for a splash of joy for your weary soul? Well, that brings us to celebration number two.

God brings joy to daily life to all who will pause and remember. First, note here that it's the seventh month, the SABBATH month. Throughout scripture, from Genesis 2 with God's rest on the seventh day to Revelation 21:9 with one of the SEVEN angels, leading the faithful to eternal rest, the number seven is associated with festivals, months, days, of moments to STOP, pause and remember that GOD brings joy to the hearts of all the weary.

Now please, you who have a habit of going through life at ninety miles an hour, please note that these ordinary hard-working folks did not stop and pause so quickly as to get whiplash. No, they stopped in the midst of busy schedules, long enough to genuinely gather, to sense WITH EACH OTHER God's joy. The text says "all the people assembled AS ONE MAN.' They stopped, gathered their collective spirit, then "they", the people, told Ezra to read God's Word to them because they obviously planned on listening for a while.

And listen they did, from "daybreak till noon", six HOURS! They paused and remembered (on a day when they could've been doing LOTS of other necessary things) because they knew IN THEIR HEARTS that "the joy of the Lord is your strength." It reminds me of Martin Luther, always saying that when he had TONS to do in a day, it simply meant he'd need to take MORE time in prayer, often 4 hours to start the day, because Luther knew that prayer I asking God to help us see things God's way, THY will be done Lord. And looking through God's eyes imparts the joy of the Lord as our strength. So Nehemiah 8:3 says, "all the people listened attentively to the Book of the Law."

Our third celebration is this, God brings joy in daily life to all who will respect, honor and acknowledge the authority of God and God's Word. Note Nehemiah 8:5, "Ezra opened the book, and AS HE OPENED THE BOOK, the people all STOOD UP!" You know, there is probably nothing harder than standing UP for God and His Word in daily life. I mean ANYBODY can stand up and say "Hooray for Jesus" on Sunday morning because EVERYBODY else is too. But it is Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday through Saturday that is the proof of the mettle of our faith.

Let's keep it simple. How do you honor God and God's Word in daily life? Is there vain swearing and cursing, lying and deceiving? Or will we stand up and say "Hooray for God!"? You may not have the gift of preaching, but think about this and examine your own faith.

ARE you honoring God's Word in daily life? Are you loving your wife as Christ loved the church and gave His life for her? Are you loving your neighbor as yourself? Are you loving your enemies (whom you hate!, that's why they're your enemies). Are you loving your enemies and PRAYING for them? God brings joy in daily life to all who will STAND UP and acknowledge His Word.

And there's more, for after the people "stood" on this ordinary day, Neh,. 8:6 says "Ezra praised the Lord, the great God; and ALL the people lifted their hands and responded, 'Amen! Amen!'" Folks, praising the great God and lifting up your hands and saying "Amen" go hand in hand (definitely no pun intended).

Every week in worship I feel bad that most of our liturgical traditions and cultures TRAIN pastors to raise their hands during parts of the liturgy but never give permission to our people to do the same. Folks, like the text says, God is GREAT! God is greater than all the teams we cheer for. God is greater than all the awards we celebrate. God is greater than all the wonders of the night sky and the buildings we build. For ALL THESE, we raise our hands and cheer. We raise up our hands and say "LOOK, how great it is! How great is my team! How great I am!"

Come on folks, God is greater than ALL these COMBINED! Don't put your hands DOWN for these earthly things, but instead be bold and lift up your hands in praise of the LORD! The GREAT God! (Well don't lift your hands now if you're driving your car.) But you know what I mean. God gives joy in daily life to all who will honor His Word, lifting our hands, praising Him because He is awesome. Hooray! (Deuteronomy 10:17), He keeps his covenant of love, Hooray. (Daniel 9:4). He listens to our pleas for mercy, hooray, (Nehemiah. 9:32).

Folks, the people in the book of Nehemiah knew what I pray you will come to believe, "praising God for the joy He wants to give us leads naturally to asking Him for it."

Praising God opens our hearts to the TRUTH that God brings victory, and with victory---joy. But apart from the great God there is only certainly defeat!

How many times? How many times in the course of a day have you thrown up your arms and said, I give up. Hey, if you've gone to all the trouble of throwing up your arms, then don't waste your energy CLAIMING defeat, but instead call on the great God and His victory of Joy in daily life.

God knows you often feel defeated. But do you know, I mean, do you believe that God has won the victory in Jesus Christ? The Ezra who read the scroll in Nehemiah praising God for his greatness is the Ezra who felt the seeming defeat of exile in Babylon. The Jesus of today's Gospel reading, the Jesus who proclaims VICTORY to the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the oppressed, is the Jesus who felt the full force of the devil's temptation and the full force of the sin of the world. But this Jesus threw up His hands in the midst of seeming defeat and said, "Father forgive them." He said, "It is finished." The VICTORY belongs to God. Ezra read the Word of God and Jesus is the Word of God that looks daily life in the eye and says, "Praise the Lord." In Jesus' own words in John 16:33, "Take heart! I have overcome the world."

This word so moved the people that in Nehemiah 8:6 they all then bowed down and worshipped the Lord with their faces to the ground. So GREAT was their encounter with the TRUTH, of the greatness of God that Luke 4:20-22 says that the eyes of everyone were fastened on HIM, and they ALL spoke well of Him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from His lips.

God's greatest victory is a conquered heart that looks through God's eyes and sees that God finds joy in being our strength to go, to enjoy, to share and so to live. And in the end, isn't that what we ALL want from daily life? STAND UP in honor and praise of God. For the joy of the Lord is your strength. Amen.