3.207 A Path to Great Joy

In Matthew 5, Jesus calls us the salt of the earth and the light of the world, reminding us that our lives are meant to preserve, illuminate, and point others to Him. This season on Savory Salt, we'll walk through the Old Testament, one verse and one thought each day. Perhaps these moments will add greater savor and brighter light to our lives as we seek to truly live as Savory Salt.

Hello, my friends. It's a new day with new opportunities. Choose ye this day whom you will serve.

Let's talk about joy. Something that I sometimes feel like is lost a little bit inside the Old Testament stories with all of the rising and falling. So let's focus on joy as we wrap out our reading this week in 2 Chronicles chapters 14 through 20, 26 and 30.

We're going to go straight to the end of 2 Chronicles chapter 30 here to get our verse for today and then process what led to this moment. Our verse is 2 Chronicles chapter 30 verse 26. So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for, since the time of Solomon, the son of David, king of Israel, there was not the like in Jerusalem.

Now, what in the world would cause such joy equal to the days of David and Solomon, which is considered the highlights, the golden age of Israel, right? Well, if we go back into chapter 30, we see that Hezekiah has invited all of the tribes all around to come into Jerusalem and to celebrate Passover. That an interesting concept here: His invitation to come and keep Passover.

Now, not everyone takes the invitation, but those that do, they have the results that we just talked about in verse 26. And it got me thinking about this joy, this level of joy. And what was it about Passover that perhaps brought this amount of joy into these people's lives?

And as I got thinking about just Passover in and of itself, I thought, at first, well, it's a religious holiday. And so if I think about religious holidays, those are good times to feel happiness and joy. We celebrate our modern ones through things like Christmas and Easter.

So that's a fun time. And then I thought, well, these religious holidays are also a time to kind of have family gatherings and, you know, family-based activities and stuff. So that's probably joyful as well.

So they're gathering together, and they're feeling good about this. And then I thought, wait a second, what is Passover in reality, right? And I took a step a little bit deeper in this, and I realized that Passover is a commandment from the Lord.

It was a sacred ordinance for the Jews to keep Passover. And I thought, well, gosh, do I have that in my life? Yes, I do.

I have a weekly run through the taking of the sacrament. Religious ordinance together as a group, a commandment from the Lord, this divine commandment. By doing these things and taking time to remember the hand of the Lord in their lives, they came to great joy.

I love this scripture here because the timing of this for the house of Israel is one that. In our lives as we go forward, seeking joy in our lives as well. That is all for today, my friends.

You and I have come here for such a time as this. Step forward in faith and let's be savory salt. We will be here tomorrow and we hope you are, too.