“You shall show me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hands are pleasures forevermore.”

The morning I read this verse I thought it was such an encouragement. But as the day went by I heard and read more about how repentance is the key to joy. Look at Psalm 16:11 a little deeper. We need to know this – you cannot come into God’s presence and expect His guidance, joy and pleasures if your heart is not clean. I cannot come into God’s presence and receive His joy with un-repented sin in my life. God’s presence and sin do not mix.  I cannot just expect joy when sin blocks my access to His presence.

In the afternoon I attended a meeting with a couple who were visiting Keswick.  During our discussion Bill shared his renewed realization of 1 Samuel 15:22- “to obey is better than sacrifice.”  How often do we think we can come into God’s presence because we have sacrificed but obedience has been lacking?  If obedience is lacking; we call that disobedience. God calls disobedience sin. Why would we think we can have joy while we cover up sin with sacrifice? Maybe we are not joyful because we sacrifice; sacrifice, sacrifice but we do not spend time in genuine repentance before the Lord.

In our evening conference meeting Dr. Jim Ayers spoke on repentance, again giving me a reminder that my joy in Christ is linked to my willingness to repent. (You can listen to Dr. Ayers’ full message on our website.)

Later, I continued to read Upgrade by Michael Catt. The first section of the book deals with sin and repentance. The author refers to the example of David. Here are a few quotes…

“Once you have been purified, you will experience true joy. Note that purification comes before joy; this order cannot be reversed.”

“David discovered the transforming power of repentance. David asked God to purify him so he could sing joyfully of the Lord’s righteousness (Psalm 51:14).  He pled, “Restore to me the joy of Thy salvation” (51:12).

Michael Catt closes chapter two with this:
“Are you desperate to dance before the Lord and praise His name? You can’t rejoice and walk in sin, so repent and then thank God for the good work He’s going to do in your life.”

Often we can think our joy is linked to our circumstances. Joy is not about our situation in this life. Joy is about our intimacy and fellowship with Jesus Christ as we come to Him with a clean and pure heart. Could it be that our lack of joy is due to a lack of repentance?

May you be filled with joy today!

Blessings,
Kathy Withers

Kathy’s on staff at America’s KESWICK in the Development Department. Kathy has been married to her husband Dave for 26 years.  They have two adult children. Kathy is active in her local Church and has previously served as a Teaching Director for Community Bible Study. Her passion is to encourage women to deepen their walk with Jesus Christ by finding and living out the truths of God’s Word.