It's Your Choice.

I woke up this morning to the song Banana Pancakes by Jack Johnson.  I rolled out of bed with a huge smile on my face, thanked Jesus for another opportunity and headed out to my Keurig.  Finishing the book of Nehemiah and Esther, I started on the book of Job.  Though I was out of Nehemiah, God continued to put chapter 8 verse 10 in my mind, which says,  "Do not sorrow, for the joy of the LORD is your strength.” I thanked the Lord for an amazing reminder and continued my quiet time in Job.

I am going into this assuming that most of us are familiar with the story of Job.  He is described as being blameless and upright, a man who feared the Lord and shunned evil.  With that being said, the Lord allowed him to be tested...and boy was he tested.  He lost everything.  But he didn't react how most of us would.  This is what he did:

²⁰ Then Job arose, tore his robe, and shaved his head; and he fell to the ground and worshiped. ²¹ And he said:

      “ Naked I came from my mother’s womb,
      And naked shall I return there.
      The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
      Blessed be the name of the LORD.”
²² In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.

Wow is right!  I was humbled, especially by the last part "In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong." How quick are we to technically blame the Lord?  We blame Him for not loving enough, not being good enough, not being patient enough, not stepping in soon enough...sad thing is I could go on.  The joy of the Lord was his strength.

As I was getting dressed for work the song The Joy of the Lord was on repeat in my head. I slip on my very cute cardigan from H&M, which I had only worn once for a half of a day mind you and decide to pull out my electric lint brush to remove some lint from the sleeve. That sucker ate my sleeve!!  Okay, I am exaggerating but it did put a hole in it the size of a half dollar making it unwearable.   Right at that moment, the Lord asked me, "So are you going to keep singing? Will you choose joy?"  I am not even going to front, this event would normally have ruined my morning..but instead of letting it, I chose to keep singing as I tossed my sweater in the trash.  Now look, I know a ruined sweater doesn't compare to a lot of things, but God knows exactly what I need to get His amazing point across to me and in the process show me my own heart.  

To keep singing in the midst of it all, whatever it is, is a choice.