Psalm 51:12 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.

Did the enemy steal your joy or did you give it up?

Psalm 12:1 Help, Lord; for the godly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the children of men.

I can’t help but think that things were a little more obvious for Old Testament believers. They were so dependent upon God and had to cry out to His Holy Hill for help in time of trouble. There was nothing in themselves to save themselves.

How does that differ for us, the New Testament believers? That free spirit David cries out for has been freely given to us by faith in Christ and now that strength to help in our circumstances does reside in us. His promise is to never leave or forsake us. So why do we lose the joy of our salvation?

Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.

Perhaps it is because we have forgotten that this is a cooperative. The Holy Spirit is the third person of God and cannot act in any manner which is not God. Who the Holy Spirit is in us does not change just because He abides in us. Jesus did not stop being Jesus just because He sat down to eat with publicans and sinners. Neither does the Holy Spirit.

When we cease, when we fail, it is not because the Holy Spirit was not leading us in righteousness. It is because we didn’t listen. All we have to do is look at the fruits of the spirit to discover when we stopped being cooperative. You plucked the fruit of joy and ate it and it was good. Then we go our merry way expecting that fruit to grow again while we are not cooperative. Sorry, you ate it, get back to being cooperative with the unchanging God, then the fruit again grows.

A grieving Holy Spirit does not produce fruit by our command.

Psalm 37:1 Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.

As I began my study time this morning I opened up my Biblegateway electronic application and viewed the verse of the day. It was Psalm 37:4. It was a good word but it wasn’t a verse that spoke to me the way I desire to have the word spoken to me. But there was something there, like catching a glimpse of something out of the corner of your eye and it causes you to turn and look. So I clicked on the expansion icon that shows all of Psalm 37 in full view, my turning to look.

Here now is the verse that spoke into my heart, Psalm 37:1. This the verse that spoke life into my circumstances this day. The word of truth shedding light upon my troubled heart, exposing the trouble and speaking directly to my fears and anxieties.

V3a Trust in the Lord, and do good;

It not only told me what was wrong but what to do about it. Think of a fret as a little dread. It isn’t crippling and worthy of an ER visit, but it is an itch that will cause you to scratch until it does become something more serious. The Lord would have me fret not, scratch not, trust in Him and get back to doing His will.

That is what it all comes down to isn’t it? The enemy is using the evil things of this world to distract us away from God’s mission plan. I’ve been given my marching orders and this fret has distracted me to the point that I was in danger of tripping in my walk.

Trust the Lord, do good.