Have you lost your joy? If you feel like you’re languishing in a joyless state from day to day, God may seem far away. But God will meet us where we are and help us connect with joy again. We can ask God what Psalm 51:12 does: “Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.” This study will give us a few minutes to discovery Here’s how to find joy again, with God’s help.
What Does Psalm 51:12 Mean?
This verse is a plea for positive change. In Psalm 51:12, King David is praying in repentance for mistakes he made that ended up separating him from God and making it difficult for him to experience the joy he had enjoyed before. David’s prayer here means that he wants to regain the joy he felt when he had a closer relationship with God. David is expressing that he wants a renewed commitment to obey God because he knows that following where God leads with a willing spirit will sustain him through any circumstances. Joy, which is based on a relationship with God, is much more reliable than happiness, which is based only on good circumstances. Psalm 51:12 is a prayer for joy that acknowledges how joy is connected to a saving relationship with God.
David felt joyless because he had been distancing himself from God through sin. He committed adultery with Bathsheba, and after she was pregnant, David then arranged for her husband Uriah to be killed in battle. After he was confronted, David chose to change direction and move closer to God rather than farther away. He confessed his sin to God and asked for forgiveness and restoration. Psalm 51 records David’s entire prayer, including this plea for fresh joy in verses 8 through 12: “Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity. Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.”
The phrase “restore to me the joy of your salvation” in verse 12 refers to restoring joy, not salvation. Once we’re saved, we cannot lose our salvation. However, we can lose the joy that comes from being close to God when we distance ourselves from him. The good news is that God is always there for us. We can ask God to restore our connection to him, no matter what we have done to break it. When we’re restored, we can enjoy life again because we can perceive God’s presence with us.
How to Ask God to “Restore to Me the Joy of Your Salvation”
Start with prayer. Confess the sins that are standing in the way of you enjoying a close relationship with God. Ask God to forgive you, accept that forgiveness, and commit to stopping the sins and moving closer to God. In Jeremiah 29:11, God promises: “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’” Look forward to moving into your future with hope.
We need to replace unhealthy behaviors with new healthy behaviors. Make whatever lifestyle changes we need to make in order to close the distance between us and God. In Whitney Hopler’s book Wake Up to Wonder, she describes what well-being research shows about how to change common unhealthy behaviors that people use to cope with stress – from bad habits such as constant busyness, overeating, and excessive screen time, to addictions like those to alcohol, pornography, or gambling. Behaviors like those may make us feel better temporarily, but they ultimately steal our joy because they numb us to the wonder of God’s presence with us. We need to ask God to help us make the changes that are necessary to build new healthy habits into our life, such as prayer and meditation habits you enjoy. They might not be new actions, but they are most likely ones that may have slipped away.
Pursue support, encouragement, and accountability. Reach out to God and some caring and trustworthy people we know for help on our healing journey. Check-in with them regularly about the progress we’re making with our lifestyle changes. Make a plan for resisting temptation when we encounter situations that may trigger our old sinful habits. If we’re dealing with an addiction of any kind, pray for deliverance from addiction and get help from recovery groups, professionals like counselors and doctors to break free and start a healthier life.
We need to devote more time to enjoying our relationship with God. God is always present with us, and we can find joy in his presence. “You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence…” Psalm 16:11 says of God. The less we focus on sin and the more we focus on our saving relationship with God, the better we’ll be able to notice God’s presence with us. Experiencing God’s love will inspire us to devote more time in our schedule to focus on our relationship with him. As we do this, we’ll wake up from being spiritually asleep, so we can discover more joy in our life.
How Does God Restore Us?
God restores us from the joyless state of broken fellowship when we accept his invitation to return to a close relationship with him. When we say “yes” to the adventure of following where God leads us, we’ll find joy every day on our adventures with God. Day by day, God restores our joy by encouraging us and bringing good out of every situation we face, when we trust him. “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose,” Romans 8:28 promises. However, that process is active, not passive. We need to cooperate with God by choosing to follow where he leads.
We can experience the joy of salvation from working out our salvation through obedience to God. In Philippians 2:12-13, the apostle Paul writes: “So then, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.” He continues in verses 17 and 18 by connecting obedience to joy: “But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. You too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me.” As we live out our salvation by obeying God in all aspects of our life, we experience joy in a relationship with the One who is the source of all joy. Our close walk with God will point us in the direction of joy. We’ll notice and enjoy God’s presence with us, and we’ll rejoice because we’ll see good happening because of our obedience.
Conclusion
If we’ve lost the joy of a close relationship with God, the good news is that we can always find it again. Just reach out to God in repentance, and God will meet us where we are. By welcoming God into our life in deeper ways, we’ll perceive his presence more. That will make it easier to understand the wisdom of God’s guidance, which will help us follow where God leads us. Obedience won’t seem like a chore anymore. Instead, we’ll see how obeying God is an opportunity to live our best life. Then we can agree with Psalm 119:14-16: “I rejoice in following your statutes as one rejoices in great riches. I meditate on your precepts and consider your ways. I delight in your decrees; I will not neglect your word.” The more time we spend in God’s presence, the more joy will return to our life!
Crosswalk.com Bible Study: website. Whitney Hopler