Posts
Session Two: The Oil of Joy
Based on Isaiah 61:3
I. Joy That Does Not Erase Mourning
Isaiah does not promise the removal of grief.
He promises transformation within it.
“To bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes,
the oil of joy instead of mourning.” (Isaiah 61:3)
The oil of joy is not a denial of sorrow.
It is not cheerfulness layered over pain.
It is not forced gratitude.
It is a sacred exchange.
Ashes are not swept away.
They are honored.
They are held as the place where beauty begins.
Henri Nouwen wrote,
“Joy does not simply happen to us.
We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day.”
This kind of joy is not reactive.
It is cultivated.
It grows slowly in soil that has known loss.
II. Oil as a Sign of God’s Nearness
In Scripture, oil is never casual.
It marks healing.
It signals consecration.
It communicates presence.
The oil of joy suggests closeness.
God does not shout joy from a distance.
He applies it gently, by hand.
Thomas Merton observed,
“The deepest level of communication is not communication, but communion.”
Joy emerges from communion, not resolution.
It is born when God is allowed near the wound.
Not to explain it.
But to tend it.
III. When Joy Feels Unfaithful
For many, joy feels dangerous.
It can feel like betrayal of what was lost.
Like disloyalty to grief.
Like forgetting someone or something sacred.
Isaiah does not ask us to abandon mourning.
He asks us to let God anoint it.
Brennan Manning once said,
“Joy is not the absence of suffering.
It is the presence of God.”
Joy that comes from God does not compete with sorrow.
It coexists with it.
It honors what mattered.
It carries memory forward without being crushed by it.
IV. Beauty That Grows From Ashes
Ashes are the remains of what once burned brightly.
Dreams.
Relationships.
Identities.
Certainties.
God does not shame us for the ashes we carry.
He names them the ground of beauty.
Dallas Willard reminds us,
“God’s kingdom is not a matter of human willpower, but of transformation.”
The oil of joy does not rush this process.
Beauty grows slowly.
Often invisibly.
Usually without announcement.
V. Receiving the Anointing
Isaiah’s promise is deeply personal.
“To bestow on them.”
Joy is given.
It is not achieved.
The oil of joy is received when we stop arguing with our sorrow
and allow God to meet us inside it.
This is not happiness.
It is holiness shaped by tenderness.
Practicing the Oil of Joy This Week
❀ Allow joy to arrive gently.
Joy does not need to announce itself or justify its presence. Small moments of light are not betrayals of grief but signs that your heart is still capable of receiving life. Let joy come without asking it to explain itself.
❀ Let God tend what still aches.
Do not rush past the places that remain tender or unresolved. God’s nearness is often felt most clearly where pain has not yet found words. Invite Him to sit with you there rather than to solve anything.
❀ Refuse false cheerfulness.
Spiritualized happiness can become another form of self-protection. God is not asking you to be upbeat but to be honest. True joy can share space with sorrow without diminishing either.
❀ Receive beauty slowly.
Beauty formed from ashes takes time to emerge. It often arrives quietly, through ordinary moments rather than dramatic change. Pay attention to what feels steady rather than spectacular.
❀ Trust God’s pace with your healing.
Healing shaped by God is rarely rushed. What unfolds slowly is often what lasts. Release the pressure to be further along than you are.
No comments:
Post a Comment