May all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. (Ps. 70:4)
Expanded Passage: Psalm 70:1-5
As a Wesleyan, I grew up hearing sermons on entire sanctification and being filled with the Holy Spirit. I can’t remember when I first heard the connection between the idea of being filled with the Spirit and having the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22. It made sense. How do you know if someone is filled with the Spirit? They should especially manifest the fruit of the Spirit!
What struck me a little funny about that connection is that I did not remember the people I grew up around being particularly joyful. Somehow, being filled with the Spirit seemed focused more on things you weren’t supposed to do or wear. I didn’t remember a lot of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness.”
The psalmist here speaks of the joy that comes from the Lord’s deliverance. His life is in danger. Others are desiring his ruin. There is no hope without the Lord’s help. In this context, he speaks of the joy that comes from salvation.
We are promised salvation if we trust in the Lord. Sometimes the Lord rescues us in this life. How many times has the Lord delivered me from trouble at just the right time? Sometimes our salvation from worldly trouble happens in the next life. Either way, our God saves. He is our help and salvation, and that is a reason for joy!
Show the joy of your salvation in your actions and reactions today.
Ken Schenck is provost with Campus EDU. He previously served as vice president for Houghton University and dean of Wesley Seminary.
© 2024 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.
