READING: ISAIAH 9:2-7

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;

on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned.

You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy;

they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest,

as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.

For as in the day of Midian’s defeat,

you have shattered the yoke that burdens them,

the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor.

Every warrior’s boot used in battle and every garment rolled in blood

will be destined for burning, will be fuel for the fire.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given,

and the government will be on his shoulders.

And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end.

He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom,

establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and for ever.

The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this.

REFLECTION

Hello and welcome to Thursday’s podcast. My name is Paddy and I am on the youth team here; I also work at The Sheffield Brewery Company. It’s great to be sharing a word from the Bible with you today. Today we are continuing to look at Isaiah 9:2-7. I would encourage you to read the whole passage again today when you can. It’s just such a great passage.

I want to focus on the first 2 verses though: ‘The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. You have enlarged the nation and increased their joy; they rejoice before you as people rejoice at the harvest, as warriors rejoice when dividing the plunder.’

I want to focus on one word in particular today: Joy. The dictionary has it down as the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying. It says in the New Testament in Ephesians that Joy is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. I distinctly remember saying to my brother once ‘I really think God is teaching me about the gift of Joy’ he turned to me and bluntly said ‘It’s not a gift is it? It’s a fruit’.

I used to always look at Joy as something that I have to work on or as something I have to be ‘good’ at. With it being described as a fruit in the new testament I thought I had to nurture it, to make it grow, to train myself to be more joyful.

I studied at the University of Sheffield and I had an awful final year. Nothing was going right and I felt alone, upset and angry at God. For 4 or 5 months my only active connection to God was to pray the Lord’s prayer and read the same psalm out loud each morning. It was all I could do. I realised though, afterwards, that that was all God wanted me to do. To look to him.

This passage reminds me of that. God just wants us to seek him, because there is a reason to be joyful: ‘a light has dawned’, Jesus. We don’t have to train ourselves to be joyful, we simply have to train ourselves to look to God.

Jesus IS the reason we can be joyful. He is: “Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace”. The prophet here is foretelling Jesus’ coming to earth, that in itself is amazing! That God, who flung stars into space, would humble himself to come as a little baby for you and for me. What’s even more incredible is that he would die on a cross, defeat sin and death and be resurrected all so that we may be able to be with him forever. God is just amazing. More importantly though, God loves you so so much.

I don’t know what kind of day you are having or are going to have but today take some time to just think about one good thing God has given you, a small thing, that you can be thankful for. Remember this day that God loves you so much.

PRAYER

Father, thank you so much for loving us. Thank you so much for giving us reasons to be joyful, however big or small they may be. Help us to look to you today and let your love touch our hearts this day. Fill us with Joy. Amen.