God of Joy

For much of human history, it was common for human beings to establish their civilizations along the rivers. Even hunters used to follow the rivers because we have always innately understood one thing - rivers mean water and water means life. Without water, even the plants wither and die. 

So in the absence of the sophisticated systems we have today that can transport and manage water just about anywhere, early folks just set themselves up along the river so that the water was free-flowing and abundant. 

The Bible also speaks liberally about rivers. There were rives in the Garden. Rivers in the Exodus. Rivers in Jerusalem. Rivers in the Promised Land. The Psalmist talks about being like a tree planted by a river, whose roots go down into an earth that never dries up, so that you're constantly being fed by the goodness of God. 

But the river of God doesn't just bring water. 

It also brings joy. 

A pure stream flows - never to be cut off - bringing joy to the city where God makes His home. (Psalm 46:4)

God built His house in Jerusalem, and Jerusalem was a city nourished by a river. But God's house doesn't run on regular water; it runs on living water. And within the living water, there is more than two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. 

In the living water of God, there is joy. 

This comes as a shock to many who grew up in the fire-and-brimstone church of not-too-many generations ago, where Hell was preached frequently and Bibles were thumped and the "fear of God" was spoken right into you week after week after week after week. It's a shock to those who read the Old Testament and get stuck on a God who looks like He's all about violence and judgment. It's a shock to those who have never known God as anything more than a strict rulemaster, someone always ready to smack your knuckles with a ruler for stepping out of line but whose standards are so impossibly high that no one could ever possibly attain them. 

I'm sorry. I'm sorry that this is the God you've been told about. I'm sorry that this is the God you were told that you have to love...the kind of God you were told loves you (even though it's hard to believe with all of that other judgment and stuff in there). I'm sorry that someone so misrepresented the Lord to you. 

Our God is a God of rivers, and the rivers of God are not judgments; they are blessings. They are gifts. They are glorious. 

And when the rivers are treacherous, when they aren't life-giving, God parts them. 

Just ask Moses.

It's not so hard to believe that God's joy runs like a river right through the heart of His city, His home, His creation. This is, after all, our God. He has promised us living water, and here it is, rushing joy into the very places where He dwells with us.