Can I Approach God with a Joyless Heart?

00:00:06.000 | Podcast listener Zach Howell writes in to ask this, "Pastor John, is it okay to

00:00:11.000 | come to the Lord with a heart that is weary, beaten down, broken down, and

00:00:15.600 | joyless? Will He take you in without joy?"

00:00:20.700 | Here's what Jesus says, "All that the Father gives me will come to me, and

00:00:27.840 | whoever comes to me I will never cast out." Or in another place, "Come to me all

00:00:37.120 | who labor and are heavy laden." I think that's exactly the situation that Zach is

00:00:42.640 | describing. "And I will give you rest." Or again, "Whoever comes to me shall not

00:00:50.600 | hunger." Jesus is honored when we come to Him for help. And in Zach's case, the help

00:01:01.000 | he needs is help to have joy again. Help not to be weary and broken down and

00:01:09.960 | without joy. Our joy—this is crucial—our joy does not happen away from

00:01:19.880 | Jesus so that it can function as a ticket to Jesus. See, the question is kind

00:01:27.000 | of posed like, "If I don't have it, can I go get it?" Well, our joy happens with

00:01:35.800 | Jesus. The reason any of us comes to Jesus is because He is the joy we seek.

00:01:42.960 | We don't get it somewhere else and then come and say, "I've got it,

00:01:49.080 | Jesus, and can I come now?" No, we come to get it because He is it. So the psalmist

00:01:56.520 | prays like this, "Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a

00:02:03.000 | willing spirit." He's coming to God saying clearly, "I've lost my joy, and I know

00:02:09.360 | you're the only true source of it, so I'm coming to you. Please restore it as I

00:02:15.800 | come." Or that was Psalm 51. Here's Psalm 85, "Will you not revive us again that

00:02:23.680 | your people may rejoice in you?" So we're like dead men. We need reviving. We need

00:02:30.920 | life, and the effect of this life will be joy. What kind of joy? In you. Rejoice in

00:02:38.280 | you. We come to you lifeless and joyless so that you will give life, and that life

00:02:48.040 | will spring up with joy. And one more, "Gladden the soul of your servant." This

00:02:54.400 | is Psalm 86, "Gladden the soul of your servant, for to you, O Lord, I lift up my

00:03:00.040 | soul." So he's seeking gladness. So he lifts up his soul to God. It's like

00:03:08.840 | lifting up the empty cup from someone 16. I will lift up the cup of salvation and

00:03:14.680 | call upon the name of the Lord. My cup is empty, Lord. I've poured it out. I've

00:03:19.880 | done all I can do. I need gladness, so I come to you and lift up my soul for

00:03:26.160 | refreshment. So my answer is, "Yes, Zach, it is okay to come to God without any

00:03:35.160 | perceived affection of joy, not because joylessness is good, and not because

00:03:43.480 | joylessness is acceptable. What is good and acceptable is the glory that God

00:03:51.000 | gets when we declare that we are done with all the failing pleasures of the

00:03:56.640 | slums of sin and acknowledge that God is the fountain of life, and when we

00:04:01.760 | come to him for joy and rest, no matter what it costs. So the motive for coming

00:04:08.960 | is not based on prior experiences of joy in God. The motive for coming is, "He is

00:04:16.880 | the fountain of life. I have need. He has fullness. I will glorify his fullness by

00:04:24.000 | coming to him for joy." Thank you, Pastor John, and thank you for the question, Zach.

00:04:30.120 | So is joy in God to be waited for or to be pursued by us? We tackled that

00:04:35.840 | related question way back in episode number 20. You can find it in the podcast

00:04:39.520 | archive, most easily found in the app for the iPhone and the Android. Again, that's

00:04:43.600 | episode number 20. Like Zach, if you have a question for Pastor John, please email

00:04:48.400 | it in to us at AskPastorJohn@DesiringGod.org, and visit us online at

00:04:52.640 | DesiringGod.org to find thousands of free books, articles, sermons, and other

00:04:57.440 | resources, all from John Piper, free of charge. I'm your host Tony Rehnke, have a

00:05:01.520 | great weekend!

00:05:04.280 | [BLANK_AUDIO]