What is the Joy Set Before You?

I went to bed last night grateful.

Nothing extraordinary had happened, just a little bit good of news and a little hope attached to the future, but it was the kind of day that makes you lie there for a few minutes in the dark thinking about how kind the Lord has been.

And almost immediately my mind went backward.

I thought about seasons when life did not feel anything like it does now, when endurance seemed to be the only thing required of us because there was very little else to do except keep putting one foot in front of the other.

That is when Hebrews 12:2 came to mind.

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame…”

The joy that was set before Him.

I have written before about those words because Christ knew exactly what His suffering would accomplish.

He could see beyond the cross, beyond the mocking, beyond the grave.

He knew what His blood would purchase.

He knew sinners would be redeemed, reconciled to God, and brought into the family of God through Him.

There was joy beyond the suffering, and He could see it perfectly.

He could see it, because He is God.

However, we usually cannot.

That may be one of the hardest parts of endurance.

Most of the time we are walking through a difficult season with very little understanding of what will eventually come from it.

We know what hurts.

We know what is heavy.

We know what requires strength today.

The larger picture remains hidden.

Looking back at our early years in North Dakota, I can see that now.

We had prayed to be here.

We wanted a solid church, a church family, strong friendships, a place where our children could grow up around the brethren, and somewhere we could put down roots and serve the Lord.

God answered that prayer.

…..Then came the years of actually building the life we had prayed for.

Those early seasons were hard in ways I could not have understood before living them.

There were times when the picture I carried in my mind seemed very far from the reality directly in front of me, and endurance became less of a spiritual concept and more of the daily requirement.

Keep going.

Stay faithful.

Do the work in front of you.

Trust that the Lord sees farther than you do.

There were days when it felt almost like life itself was asking, “How badly do you want what you believe God has placed ahead of you?”

So we stayed, we endured.

Not because we had some grand understanding of what God was doing, but because we could imagine enough to believe the road was worth walking.

Now, years later, I realize I did not even know the half of what was waiting for us.

The joy I imagined back then was smaller than the life God eventually built.

I could picture friendships, roots, a church family, and children growing up in a place where they belonged.

I could not picture all the people who would eventually become woven into our family story, the marriages that would come, grandchildren, answered prayers, and the thousand ways those years would shape us.

The joy set before us was worth the endurance.

But, that is much easier to say from this side of it.

Hindsight gives us a view we never possess while standing in the middle of a difficult season.

When you are enduring, you mostly see the next responsibility.

You see the bill that needs paying, the child who needs correction, the marriage that requires work, the lesson plan that still has to be finished, or whatever particular weight belongs to your day.

Sometimes the future feels too far away to draw much strength from.

Perhaps that is why Hebrews does not tell us first to look at the outcome.

It says, “Looking unto Jesus.”

Jesus becomes the fixed point when the joy ahead is still blurry.

We may not know what God is building through a season, but we know who He is.

We may not understand why a particular road has become so long, though we have enough history with Him to remember that He has never wasted our surrender.

Romans 5:3-4 says, “Tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope.”

I understand those words differently than I did when I was younger.

Experience gives hope some history.

There are things I can trust God with today because I remember what happened the last time I thought I could not make it through something.

He carried us then, and that memory becomes part of the strength available now.

Pain has a way of convincing us that the present season is permanent.

It fills the whole frame.

When marriage is hard, it can be difficult to imagine tenderness returning.

When finances remain tight month after month, abundance feels theoretical.

When parenting is exhausting, you can forget that these people will ever grow beyond the stage currently testing every bit of patience you possess.

But seasons move.

Life changes.

The work we are doing now often bears fruit long after we have stopped thinking about the days when the seed went into the ground.

Galatians 6:9 says, “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

In due season.

There is something beyond today.

That does not mean every painful story ends neatly on this earth.

There are sorrows whose full meaning may remain hidden until eternity, and I would never tell someone carrying deep grief that enough endurance guarantees the earthly outcome they are hoping for.

Still, the Christian always has a horizon.

Peter writes of “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” 1 Peter 1:4.

There is Jesus ahead.

There is eternity.

There is a day when the road we could barely understand from here will finally be seen from the other side.

That is where my mind went last night.

I found myself thinking about all the seasons when we were simply enduring, and how many of the things I am thankful for today grew out of years when gratitude took more work.

I am glad we stayed.

I am glad we did not judge the whole future by the hardest portion of the road.

And I am especially grateful that God knew what He was building when all I could see was the little piece directly in front of me.

So I have been carrying one question with me today.

What is the joy set before you?

Perhaps there is something in your life right now that requires endurance, and the weight of it has become so familiar that you have stopped lifting your eyes beyond it.

Set it down before the Lord for a moment.

Remember what you are walking toward.

Remember what He has already carried you through.

And if the future is still too blurred to make much sense of, then do what Hebrews tells us to do.

Look unto Jesus.

He understands endurance.

He also knows what awaits you on the other side, and it may be far more beautiful than you could ever imagine.

Biblical Womanhood

Subscribe

I wrote “When You Can’t Control It: A 6-Week Bible Study for Those Who Are Tired of Worrying, Overthinking, and Carrying Everything” for the friend whose mind has been working three shifts while the rest of the house sleeps.

You love your people, take your duties seriously, and have slowly begun carrying outcomes, hearts, decisions, and futures that God never placed under your authority.

This study is a fundraiser for this ministry.

The base price is $5.25, but you can choose to give any amount.

Giving over the baseline helps me put this in the hands of friends who cannot afford any amount.

Some of you have already generously given, and I’ve been able to bless a handful of ladies with this study free of charge.

If your circumstances don’t allow you to purchase this today, but you feel it would benefit you—please reach out privately and I will happily give this study to you as a free gift.

Get The Study Fundraiser

If you enjoy my work, please consider visiting my:

STORE

Where you will find updated links and descriptions for all of my digital independent studies and devotionals! Every purchase helps fuel the ministry at Biblical Womanhood!