More Joy Than Grain and Wine
- Cathrine Schmelzer
- Jan 17
- 3 min read
“Believe in Jesus. Love Jesus. Be filled with inexpressible joy.”
“You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound.” Psalm 4:7
A few short years ago, when I was in my early twenties, I was a very different person, who did not know Jesus or the joy of God. I won’t go into all the details, but let’s just say I did find a very earthly joy in grain and wine.
But that kind of joy doesn’t last. The earthly things always end up disappointing you, and you’re left with… nothing.
Even now, as someone who does know Jesus, I still try to find joy in a different kind of grain and wine. Do we not all like to have the occasional glass of wine at the end of a hard day, or to drown our stress in bread? Ok, maybe not everyone does that, but we all tend to look toward earthly things for joy.
Maybe you put expectations on your husband to make you feel better when you’re sad.
Maybe you find joy in getting yourself a little gift after a particularly hard day or season.
Maybe it’s your children’s sweet faces that fill you with joy.
Or that you can’t make it through a Monday morning without the perfect cup of coffee.
Whatever it is, those things aren’t bad, and they definitely do bring joy. But just like the “grain and wine” of my youth, it’s not a joy that lasts. These things can, and sometimes will, bring disappointment.
Maybe your husband falls short of your expectations… he’s human too.
The joy we get from gifts and stuff is very temporary.
Those sweet faces of your children start bickering with each other, and the joy pops like a bubble.
Even coffee can disappoint if you forgot to buy creamer. (It’s me. I’m out of creamer)
But with God, more joy is put into your heart than all of those other things combined. Joy that comes from God lasts. Forever. And won’t disappoint.
1 Peter 1:8-9 gives us directions on how to do this. I’ll paraphrase. Believe in Jesus. Love Jesus. Be filled with inexpressible joy. And the reason for that joy is that our faith results in salvation for our souls.
Rejoice, mom friend, knowing your salvation is secured through Jesus and that it can’t be taken away (John 16:22). Let God put more joy in your heart than any other thing can.
Action Steps:
If you, like I did recently, find yourself going to the world for your joy, you might enjoy this little journaling activity that I did.
Make yourself a list with two columns. Label the first column, “All the Things That Don’t Bring Me Biblical Joy”, and label the second column, “All the Things That Bring Me Biblical Joy”.
Fill out your list, in the first column, write down all the worldly things you’re looking for joy in. In the second column, write “God”.
A few weeks ago, we released a podcast on Joy. It was a busy season, so if you missed it, go back and listen HERE. You can also go back and read any of the devotionals you missed, HERE.
Written by Cathrine, mom of 4