Joyful Generosity: A Biblical Perspective

Posted on by korgrocker

“As the Scriptures say, “They share freely and give generously to the poor. Their good deeds will be remembered forever.” For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you. Yes, you will be enriched in every way so that you can always be generous. And when we take your gifts to those who need them, they will thank God. So two good things will result from this ministry of giving—the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God.”
2 Corinthians 9:9-12 NLT

The poor people in Jerusalem and the surrounding area were in need, and the offering to be collected from the Corinthians, and added to that from the Macedonians, was going to make a big difference to their lives. It would enable them to get back on their feet and provide freedom from the worry about where the next meal was going to come from. Famine is a terrible condition. It was then and still is now, and according to the latest estimates, in 2024, 673 million people (1 in 11 globally) went hungry. The statistics are even more alarming because the world generates sufficient food to feed everyone, and we have the bizarre situation that in the affluent West, people are having to receive injections and pills to counter the effects of overeating, and in the least affluent parts, people are starving. In many parts of the world, conflict is the main cause, affecting over 20 countries. But there are other factors include corruption and failure of the aid programmes. 

However, imagine the joy, back in Judea, when the offering eventuallt arrives, taken there by the trustworthy men of integrity from Macedonia. There was in place in Jerusalem an aid programme, administered by faithful and trustworthy men, as we read in Acts 6:1, “But as the believers rapidly multiplied, there were rumblings of discontent. The Greek-speaking believers complained about the Hebrew-speaking believers, saying that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution of food”. To make sure there was fairness for all, the Apostles said to the church, “… select seven men who are well respected and are full of the Spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility” (Acts 6:3). Regarding the Judean offering, and although I have no information to support this, I’m sure to start with the poor and needy would have been given food parcels, purchased from the funds received, but there would then have been a process where the farmers would have received seed supplies for planting, giving them a crop for the following growing season. 

The thanks of the Judeans would have been joyful, an understatement, I’m sure. Paul wrote, “the needs of the believers in Jerusalem will be met, and they will joyfully express their thanks to God”. The cynics perhaps claim that the offering had nothing to do with God and instead was just an offering collected from a few individual churches. But God was in the giving because 2 Corinthians 9:10 reads, “For God is the one who provides seed for the farmer and then bread to eat. In the same way, he will provide and increase your resources and then produce a great harvest of generosity in you”. Christians then and now know that their food supply is due to God’s grace, which we call “common grace,” because God has fed the world regardless of whether or not people believe in Him. The fact that people go hungry is because of sinful practices in the supply chain, and judgement will apply one day. 

We pilgrims have much to thank God for, and not just for the food on our tables. It is sometimes a good practice to sit down with a pen and paper and write down all the things that God has done for us. In my devotions, I remember the big things that God has done in my life, but there are many small things as well. In Deuteronomy 4:9 we read, “But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren”. Even today, the Jewish people widely practice the Passover meal, known as a Seder. It is one of the most observed Jewish holidays, held on the first night of Passover to commemorate the Exodus from Egypt. Families gather to read the Haggadah, eat matzah (unleavened bread), and consume symbolic foods. But the Exodus took place thousands of years ago, yet is still rememberd and celebrated.

There are many Scriptures that encourage God’s people to offer their praise, worship and thanks, and all with a spirit of joy. The first two verses of Psalm 100 are, “Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy”. Or the first two verses of Psalm 95, “Come, let us sing to the Lord! Let us shout joyfully to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come to him with thanksgiving. Let us sing psalms of praise to him”. Psalm 9:1-2, “I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvellous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High”. And from the New Testament, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! … Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done” (Philippians 4:4, 6). 

In these war-torn days, buffeted by rises in the costs of living, being worried for the future of our families, it is easy to start sliding down the slippery slope into a world of despondency and hopelessness. It is a place where we find many of our fellow citizens, those who don’t know Jesus. Just walk along any High Street and see the looks on people’s faces, frozen and etched with the lines of misery. But we have within us the joy of the Lord, and we know what He has done for us. More than that, we don’t keep it bottled up within us, and we share that joy with others, bringing God’s light into their darkness. Whenever we can. At every opportunity. We have the words of eternal life, words that will bring joy and hope into any miserable and hopeless situation. Come on, folks. If we don’t tell people about God and all that He has done for us, who will? 

Dear Heavenly Father. You are the Source of joy, and the Light that illuminates this dark world. Please help us to act as reflectors of Your light, so that others will come to know You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Shouts of Joy

Posted on by korgrocker

“How the king rejoices in your strength, O Lord! He shouts with joy because you give him victory. For you have given him his heart’s desire; you have withheld nothing he requested.”
Psalm 21:1-2 NLT

Something significant happens when God comes through for us. With David it was the realisation that God had given him victory over his enemies. In fact, David testified that God had “given him his heart’s desire” and had “withheld nothing he requested”. The “something significant” for David was a manifestation of “shouts of joy”. David had a freedom in his personality that allowed him to outwardly express the feelings of joy within him. In our conditioned cultures today, such an ebullience is unusual, although it can be seen in healing meetings, where people have been divinely healed of illnesses or disabilities, people expressing “shouts of joy” following the realisation that God had freed them from an incurable condition. But I have never heard anyone, including myself, offering “shouts of joy” in public just because God is who He is. Instead, we act all religious and sing hymns or worship songs. Or offer up long-winded prayers of thanks. We consider ourselves so much more refined than those who outwardly show their emotion. But in a private place, sometimes on my early morning prayer walks, I can be heard to call out the name of Jesus, startling the birds close by. 

There was an occasion when the Jewish exiles had laid the foundation of the new Temple, being built to replace the one destroyed by the Babylonians. An amazing outpouring of emotion followed, as we read in Ezra 3:12-13, “But many of the older priests, Levites, and other leaders who had seen the first Temple wept aloud when they saw the new Temple’s foundation. The others, however, were shouting for joy. The joyful shouting and weeping mingled together in a loud noise that could be heard far in the distance”. The Jews had no hang ups in those days about expressing their emotions in public, and in many places in the world today we find the same. But not in the West, with our “stiff upper lip” culture. It takes a momentous event, usually the death of a loved one, to release a public display of emotion, but this is usually well suppressed by the person involved – after all what will people think? Bottling up our emotions within us is not a good idea because that is not how God designed us, and a physical or mental illness can result in many cases. (Try Googling “problems caused by suppressing emotions”).

But it was the realisation that God had answered his prayers completely that David thought worth recording. This builds a picture of a relationship so close that he seemed to walk hand in hand with God, in constant communication and with effective outcomes. Nothing that David asked God to help him with was refused. Is that the experience of us modern day pilgrims? Jesus said to His disciples, “You can ask for anything in my name, and I will do it, so that the Son can bring glory to the Father. Yes, ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it!” (John 14:13-14). This is a hard scripture to believe because we intuitively know that it can’t be true in every case. For example, if two people ask God to change the weather, each praying prayers with opposite requests, one for sun and the other rain, how would God answer such a prayer? The significant bit about what Jesus said was “in His name”. Our prayers must align with His will and character, and anything we ask for must therefore bring glory to God. And even then, adding “in Jesus’ name” to our prayers won’t always bring on the result we require, because the name of Jesus is not a magical incantation. David realised the importance of a relationship with God, and tempered his request accordingly.

Looking back over my life, there are many occasions that deserve “shouts of joy“. God has brought about miracles in my life, and in the lives of most believers, where prayers have not been uttered. Jesus said, “Don’t be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him!”(Matthew 6:8). There are other times when our spirits and the Holy Spirit are in direct communication, bypassing our mental faculties. Paul knew this when he wrote, “And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will” (Romans 8:26-27). 

Why don’t we pilgrims rejoice with “shouts of joy”? Without the manifestation of even a little squeak or suppressed whoop? We watch athletic events or football matches and observe outpourings of corporate emotion when our favourite athlete wins a race, or when our team’s ball crosses the line of the opposing team’s goal. Why can’t we “shout for joy”, when we remember again all that Jesus has done for us, an event infinitely more significant, with eternal consequences, than any human victory. Jesus died for us so that we can live forever. Surely that is worth “shouts of joy”, isn’t it?

Dear Father God. Please forgive us for suppressing the praise that is Yours by right. You deserve all the glory. Amen.