If you’re having a down day and feeling plagued with frustration, anxiety, or feeling like you’re going slightly crazy thanks to how much you have to do, there’s a simple, surefire way to re-discover the joy that is yours in Christ. Simple, but not always easy. Surefire, but not always instant.
Want to move from frustration to joy? Take a cue from the writer of Psalm 104 and meditate on the awesomeness of God as demonstrated in his creation.
Psalm 104 is massive in scope, with the psalmist’s mind’s-eye roaming from the heavens to the depths of the earth to the oceans to how God provides food for all creation to how God has ordained stars and sun and moon to mark days and seasons. The entire Psalm is a written meditation on God’s power and work in and through his creation. Here are a few snippets to give you a taste:
“He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire.” (v.3-4)
“From your lofty abode you water the mountains;the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.” (v.13)
“He made the moon to mark the seasons;the sun knows its time for setting.” (v.19)“These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.” (v.27-28)
At the conclusion of the Psalm the writer calls what he is doing a meditation; “May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.” (v.34) The Psalmist has made it a practice to stop and engage his mind in scanning the breadth of creation to see God’s hand in all of it, which results in him rejoicing in the Lord. This isn’t the mind-silencing meditation of Buddhism or Hinduism. It’s an intentional directing of the thoughts to see God at work. Your soul needs that kind of meditation.
In our world of constant connectedness and incessant noise it’s little wonder that joy is hard to come by. When you’re in a constant state of want for something you don’t have or waiting for something to capture your attention, joy cannot thrive. When we’re always looking at a screen or taking in some sort of stimulation we are be blind to God’s hand at work. But when we intentionally slow down, engage our mind, and meditatively send our thoughts into seeing the glory and work of Jesus around us we, like the Psalmist, will find ourselves exclaiming, “I will sing to the Lord as long as I live; I will sing praise to my God while I have being…Bless the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord!” with overflowing joy.
Want a path back to joy? Take five minutes today and meditate on the beauty of God in creation. Join the writer of Psalm 104 in scanning sky and sea and land to see what the Lord of the earth is doing. Not sure how? Start by reading the Psalm. As you read, leverage the imagination you’ve been created with and see with your mind’s eye the glory that the Psalm captures. Practice that consistently over several days, and then start doing it on your own. Practice that meditation and you’ll discover a sure path back to joy even in the midst of chaos and trouble.
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