Ezra 6:22. “And kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy: for the Lord had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.”
JOYFUL SATISFACTION. When the Lord makes His people joyful, it is joy indeed. It lasts! For seven days, a whole week, the people of God were on a real high. They were doing what God wanted and they were doing it in God’s way. This is a guarantee of joyful satisfaction because, as a people, they were engaged in holy things. It is in those situations the Lord makes us joyful. Not only had the Lord given them joy but he had turned the heart of the king from the direction of opposition to that of favor towards His people.
The heart of a king is able to be directed by the Lord as “rivers of water.” How is a river moved? When the floods rise and the results of bad weather are seen, the river is moved out of its normal course. It follows the course of the Lord of the flood. When an earthquake occurs, the direction of flow of a river can be changed by the fall of earth into the river. To men, rivers are not easy to direct or move. To God, there is no problem to change it to run wherever He wants it to go.
For the believer who is held secure in the hand of the Father and of the Son, there can be no need to fear the edicts of the king. There may be a time of waiting, but ultimately the will of the Lord will be made plain and we will look back with amazement and joy at what God has done. Doing His will and experiencing Him in removing obstacles from our life results in joy.
“Father, I know the Lord gave His peace to His own disciples before He left. I am thankful for that. I know He gave the Holy Spirit to live within me, and I am thankful for that. I know He gave me eternal life and I am thankful for that. I am also thankful that He gives us joy. Amen.”