When I was in high school our youth group spent a week at youth camp every summer. We took hikes, swam in streams, saw waterfalls, went tubing in the rapids in the creeks, and so much more. We were a bunch of roughneck country boys from the foothills of South Carolina so we kind of showed up at camp with an attitude that we would try anything.
This is part of a four part series on Psalm 43
Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4
One summer we saw some teens using the inner tubes normally used for tubing the creeks in a whole new way. They were climbing inside the tubes and rolling from the top of the hill at the main lodge all the way down to the bottom! Now that looked like fun… so we grabbed some tubes and ran to the top of the hill. Off we went, rolling about 120 mph down the hill. It was a blast. We ended up with all kinds of scrapes and bruises and my brother even crashed into the snack trailer once at the bottom of the hill and rocked it so hard the college kids working inside ran out the back door scared to death.
In the years ahead, after I became a youth pastor, I can’t even count how many times I’ve spent a day playing like this. Sledding, giant slip and slides, skiing, ice skating, bowling and the list goes on.
But recently I had a thought about the way we play. If you are like me, you kind of forget that on that day you went sledding, or tubing or skiing and had the time of your life, you actually spent a lot of time climbing back up the hill. Every time we rolled down the hill in our tubes, we ran back up the hill. Every time we slid down hill in the snow, we climbed back to the top. But it was so much fun!
Do you know that God really wants us to experience this kind of happiness in our journey with Him? It’s not only fun sledding down the hill but there is joy throughout the entire journey!
Here are a few thoughts from Psalm 43 about how this looks in real life.
Psalm 43:4, “Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy, yea upon the harp will I praise thee, O my God.”
- The Decision To Go – Psalm 43:4 “Then Will I Go.”
It’s time to make a decision that you are not going to keep standing on the spiritual sidelines. It doesn’t matter how many times you see a bunch of teens running up the hill to slide back down laughing so hard their side hurts… there will always be a few who are just standing by watching. Life is full of reasons to be apprehensive but God wants us to let go of that apprehension and feel the joy and happiness He gives. The phrase “then will I go” in Psalm 43:4 really is a challenge to let go of your spiritual apprehension and go to the next place God is calling you to go in your spiritual growth.
- The Degree of Dedication – Psalm 43:4 “Unto The Altar.”
To go “unto the altar” illustrates the willingness to be “all in” with God. The altar is a place of holiness, a place where we give offerings and a place where intimate worship takes place. It’s time to stop keeping Him at “arms length” and go “all in” with your spiritual walk.
- The Source of Our Joy – Psalm 43:4 “Unto God My Exceeding Joy.”
This phrase “exceeding joy” means “like a revolving joy.” Picture a person living in a circle of joy, a revolving joy, like the teenager running up the hill, sledding down the hill, running up the hill, sledding down the hill… over and over… forever and ever without ever losing their enthusiasm! God has the ability to produce that kind of joy.
- The Instrument of Praise – Psalm 43:4 “Upon The Harp Will I Praise Thee.”
The Psalmist had a harp to praise God with. How about you? What if you chose to take every instrument God has given you and continually offer praise to God with it? Your talents, your smile, your enthusiasm, your abilities and every instrument He has blessed you with… all of them in unison being used to praise God.
It’s time you started living victoriously! Now go and get to it and experience that revolving joy God talks about in Psalm 43!
