Radiant Joy

Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed. – Psalm 34:5 HCSB

Ever see a girl in love? Eyes bright, smile huge, face…radiant. Love has a distinctive way of painting a face with joy.

Why is she glowing? Why does she float through life like she’d spouted invisible wings?

Because she’s happy. She’s with the one who makes her heart flutter and sing, who loves everything about her. Life is good. Perfect. And nothing will douse the glow of her love.

Be good if that were an ever-after story, wouldn’t it? Every one of us married gals would twirl through life without a care in the world. Nothing would erase the everlasting smile from our lips. No harsh words would pass between us and our beloved. There would never be long nights flooded with bitter tears. Never a cold shoulder. Love would just make everything rosy.

Not so much. I’ve got a good marriage, and still I know the difference between reality and fairytales, and that one has Disney written all over it.

But the Bible is not a book of fairytales. It’s peppered with hard stories—stories with an adult rating on them. Stories of real people, broken families, wandering hearts, and deceitful men. Yet in the middle of this Book, King David—a fragile man himself—wrote these words:

I will praise the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. I will boast in the LORD; the humble will hear and be glad. Proclaim Yahweh’s greatness with me; let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed.

Stranger still, he likely wrote that while in hiding from a mad-man. David knew disappointment. Knew betrayal. Knew failure. He knew all this by the hands of others, and he knew it by his own doing. And yet he writes, “those who look to Him are radiant with joy; their faces will never be ashamed.” How can he say that?

Because, despite the fact that David didn’t always live a fairytale life, his God never failed. Never failed. LOVE doesn’t, you know. It bears all things, hopes all things, believes all things, endures all things.

Joy like that? It’s the radiant kind.