Thou Has Put Gladness In My Heart

¹“Thou hast put gladness in my heart, more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.” (Psalms 4:7). Isn’t it lovely to know that the Lord can put joy into our hearts? Even if we have lost everything and have been cast into the pit and our friends have abandoned us and our health has deserted us and our sanity is hanging by a thread, the Lord can put gladness in our hearts even then. This gift from God has nothing to do with the circumstances of our lives. Even better, the joy that comes from God is more intense, more pure, more pleasant than anything we can feel on our own. The happiness that comes from worldly success, from an increase in our bank accounts or our social status is just a pale shadow of the true joy that comes from God. It is good to take pride in our successes and we should always enjoy the feelings of happiness that come from accomplishing our goals, but the beauty of God’s joy is that it is not something that we can earn. It can come to us when we least expect it and when we need it most. And when we are utterly alone and our hearts are completely empty, God can put gladness and joy back into our hearts.