I remember singing as a child, “I’ve got the joy, joy, joy, down in my heart!”

Someone would sing in response, “Where?”

“Down in my heart to stay!”

If we’re honest, some of us have lost our joy along the way. The disappointments of life have robbed us of joy and we feel broken.

The older I become, the more I realize that joy and happiness aren’t necessarily the same. Joy is an internal disposition, whereas happiness is determined by external circumstances.

In the Bible, so many heroes of faith experienced joy in the midst of harrowing circumstances because their internal compass was directed toward God. Examples like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane; Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace; or Daniel in the lions’ den show us that joy is attainable in the face of life’s uncertainties.

The Psalmist knew this first hand.

In Psalm 32, David’s heart is glad because his sins have been forgiven and his suffering has been taken away. He rejoices because he is reaping the blessings of repentance, in spite of things not being perfect in his life. He chooses to be glad in the Lord not because everything in his life is perfect but because the God he serves is Perfect and perfecting everything that concerns Him.