Sit And Spin



Did you know that God is joy? God is gladness? 

 Joy and gladness as we know them are cheap imitations of joy that is the character and substance of God. Everything about Him is joyful. He is nothing but glad about you! He is nothing but joyous concerning you! His joy is safety for us. When we grasp that God's face is always going to light up when we walk into a room, we can feel nothing but safe and protected. 


Have you ever noticed how a young child reacts to a person who is joyful? They become joyful. Ridiculously joyful. As human beings we have to put a lid on it just to keep things from being knocked off the furniture or to keep them from spinning in circles till they get so giddy they fall and crack their little skulls. Unchecked they will just spin off into joy so deep it becomes exhausting and they collaspe into a heap. 


There has to be an atmosphere of complete safety to engross oneself completely in joy. Joy of the Lord is our strength, right? I find it so strange how we hear Bible verses all our lives; think we understand them; are taught how to understand them; use them as antidotal responses to ourselves and others yet many times never look any deeper into what God means by what's written in a scripture. 


For instance, in the verse telling us "the joy of the Lord is our strength", can you imagine that the word 'strength' doesn't mean strength?  It's root is the Hebrew word strength but the word in the scripture means place or means of safety, protection, refuge, a stronghold. Could it mean that Jehovah's joy-meaning the joy belonging to Him is our safe place of protection? I think so.



If we just used the scriptures to aid us in understanding the scriptures we could then put together concepts like "the joy of The Lord is a safe place for us" and "in Your Presence there is complete Joy". I think God is saying, I'm so joyfully tickled with you that just being around me will make you feel safe and secure enough to be your most ridiculously fun self! When was the last time you twirled around in circles for the sheer fun of it? 

A few years back, well more than a few, they made a toy called a Sit n Spin. Safely sitting on a round movable platform on the floor a child could turn a circular post and spin themselves around and around and around in circles as fast as they could. Children have been turning themselves in circles for millenia for nothing but the sheer fun of it-not without some bumps and bruises.

 Well, God is telling us to hop on and give Him a spin. He's not just okay about us having fun, He is fun- the fun we look for as adults in all the wrong and most dangerous places! Our Father's joy is all about delighting in us! Just as we are, and He is the safe playground for us to experience joy and gladness with total approval and full hearted partnership.

 Give Him a whirl. It doesn't sound as Holy as "The joy of The Lord is our strength", but it's what He means. I'm sure of it!

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