Restoration
of JOY
Bible verses on
joy in Psalms 51:12 say “restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold
me with thy free spirit.
The Joy of
Salvation is the Joy of the Lord over a sinner that repented and be saved. For
the salvation of a sinner brings joy to the Lord, God then sees the repented
sinner whom redeemed by the blood of the Lamb as his son. “But as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of
GOD, even to them that believe on his name:” John 1:12.
When you are saved,
your name is recorded in the book of life. But, once you go astray or backslide
your name is erased completely from the book of life “And the Lord said unto Moses, whosoever hath sinned against me. Him
will I blot out of my book.” Exodus 32:33
David’s sinned against God: in 2 Samuel
12:1-13 “AND the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said
unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich and the other poor. The
rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had nothing,
save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up
together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank
of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there
came a traveler unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and
of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but
took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him. And
David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and said to Nathan, as the LORD
liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: and he shall
restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no
pity. And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith the LORD God of
Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand
of Saul; And gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wife into thy bosom,
and gave thee the house of Israel an of Judah; and if that had been too little,
I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things. Wherefore hast thou
despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight? Thou hast killed
Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and
hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon. Now therefore the sword
shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast
taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. Thus saith the LORD.
Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will
take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he
shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. For thou didst it secretly;
but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. And
David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto
David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shall not die.
Restoration
of the Joy: When your sins are forgiven, Joy of the Lord is
restored. In order for your sins to be forgiven as in case of David in 2 Samuel 12:13, he shows qualities of
humility, genuine repentance, patience and faith. David sinned and was
confronted with it, he repented and was forgiven. One must acknowledge one’s
sins when confronted by conscience, Holy Spirit or fellow human being. And pray
for forgiveness as David prayed wholeheartedly and his prayer was answered
immediately. Without praying for forgiveness of your sins and for your sins to
be forgiven the joy of the lord cannot be restored, which David was praying
for, that is, God would not have joy in you! That’s why David kept on praying
even in psalms 51:1-19. But in verse 14 of these psalms 51 “Deliver me from
bloodguiltiness, O God thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud
of thy righteousness.
Why David
kept on praying for God: David kept on praying to God because he was
still perturbed in his mind and wanted to be totally cleaned from his
blood-guiltiness and he knew that only God is his salvation “O God thou God of my salvation:” absolutely
knew and believed that he can restored back the joy of salvation, which he had
once experienced.
And uphold
me with thy free Spirit: David included this phrase in his prayer to
conform to restoration of joy of the salvation. Because, it is reliable, David
prayed for the free spirit of God to uphold him because he knew that after the
forgiveness and restoration without Holy Spirit to guides him he can backslide.
The joy of
salvation can only be restored, if you acknowledge your sins and pray sincerely
with humility for forgiveness and also for Holy Spirit to guide you so as not
to backslide. May the Lord almighty have joy daily in our life in Jesus
name-AMEN
