Psalm 43:3-4 (NLT) Send out your light and your truth; let them guide me. Let them lead me to your holy mountain, to the place where you live. There I will go to the altar of God, to God—the source of all my joy. I will praise you with my harp, O God, my God!

David was a king who was also a psalmist, having written seventy-three of the one hundred and fifty psalms in the Book of Psalms. In many of the psalm that he composed, he expresses a deep desire to be with God. In Psalm 27, he speaks about his desire to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of his life. David loved being in God's presence! One of the reasons for his desire to be with God is that he found his joy with Him.

The Word of God tells us that there is fullness of joy in God's presence. If you have ever experienced any amount of joy, you can talk about what an amazing feeling it is. But joy is fleeting in this dark world, and soon trouble comes to visit. Whatever you look to for joy will not be able to continue to provide it for you. Nothing in this world can bring you lasting joy...except God.

David knew where to go for joy. He knew that to have joy, He had to find his way into the presence of God. He knew that the Lord was the source of all of his joy and therein lies the way for us to experience joy no matter what is going on in the world or in our lives. God was not just the source of joy for David but He is the only source of lasting joy in the world. There is no other place where we can experience lasting joy other than in the presence of God.

While in the verses of scripture above David describes his journey to where God lives to find His altar so that he could find God's presence, we don't need to make that journey. For David, the presence of God was at the Temple in the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant was. God's shekinah glory resided there. That's why David talked about dwelling at the Temple all the days of his life. But today, God has made His dwelling in our lives through the Holy Spirit, giving us the ability to be in His presence at all times. The place where He now lives is in our bodies, which the Word of God refers to the as temple of the Holy Spirit. This is what Jesus referred to as abiding in Him and He in us. But we have to acknowledge His presence in us and live according to the Word of God so that we can experience His presence always. Many ignore His presence or don't even know that His presence really resides in them. It's just words to some. But to those that have tasted of the glory of God through His presence in them, there is lasting joy.

We need the joy that comes from the presence of God in this joyless world and we need to spread that joy to others that have never experienced it. We have the joy that the world is looking for and we also have access to the source of that joy. We have the presence of God with us! Live in His presence for everlasting joy, which you can share with the lost and dying of this world.

Pastor Joey Vazquez