I think it’s safe to say that the psalmist who wrote Psalm 43 was having a bad day.
Why have you rejected me?
Why do I go about mourning?
Why are you cast down O my soul?
If ever there was encouragement for letting it all out to God, it’s in the Psalms. No false piety here.
Psalm 43 is filled with genuine anguish. The psalmist sings prayer raw.
But right in the middle of Psalm 43, right in the center of all that pain, is a nugget of gold. A name of God:
Then I will go to the altar of God,
to God my exceeding joy
– Psalm 43:4
God My Exceeding Joy. El Simchah Giyl.
The Hebrew words simchah and giyl can both be translated as joy… this name of God is almost like saying God my joyful joy. A double portion of joy!
Exceeding joy. This can be said of no other joy. All other beauties have their boundaries, all other glories have their glooms. This is that illimitable sea, God.
– E. Paxton Hood.
And it couldn’t have been a better place for this uplifting name of God to appear.
God My Exceeding Joy is right there in the middle of suffering and pain. In the middle of the bad day, in the middle of a tragedy. His joy is not dependent on circumstance.
I have not yet discovered a name of God that can be translated “God Who Makes Everything Go the Way I Want So That I Am Happy.” Happiness is dependent on our circumstances.
But joy?
In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
– Philippians 4:12-13
Who strengthens me with His joy…
…the joy of the LORD is your strength.
– Nehemiah 8:10b
And God My Exceeding Joy doesn’t just give joy. He is our joy.
Note the holy rapture with which David regards his Lord! He is not his joy alone, but his exceeding joy; not the fountain of joy, the giver of joy, or the maintainer of joy, but that joy itself.
– Charles Spurgeon
God Who
is joy…
exceeding joy…
no matter my circumstances.
El Simchah Giyl. God My Exceeding Joy.
Have you experienced the joy of the Lord during a time of suffering? If you are facing a trial in your life today, may we pray for you? Please share in the comments.
Super applications from the hidden nuggets of Hebrew. Thanks, Patti!
You’re welcome Wayne, so glad you stopped by. I just prayed that you would experience His joy today!
A needed reminder today…really appreciate all that you pointed out, really wonderfully written…This is one (of many) of the areas that I really struggle to understand, to make a part of me. How I long to be filled with His joy. And to truly be able to not lean on my own understanding (my understanding is so minute) , to truly trust Him and not be tossed by the waves.
Elizabeth, I was born a glass-half-empty girl. The Lord has done a transforming work in my heart and my life over the past twenty years. The change began when I started to seek Him in His Word. Without reservation I will say that the Word of God is THE most powerful thing I have encountered. That is why I feel compelled to write about it and share it. After a decade of seeking in the Word, the Lord upped the ante, so to speak. :-) He challenged me to really DO the Word. Then began a laying down of my life in service. It started right in my family, choosing to give and not demand. It was when I was seeking the least for myself that true joy finally began to glimmer through the cracks of my fear-ridden life. He is still working on me (for the rest of my life!) but I have begun to taste of the profound freedom that Christ offers. And rest and trust deeply.
Persevere in the Word, Elizabeth, and He will meet you there! “”Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.” (Matthew 7:7-8) I have prayed for you tonight!
thank you, i appreciate the encouragement…i am definitely a half-empty girl too…i keep looking for change in my life to cling to hope…thank you for your writings and your prayers…onward.
This article is such a blessing!!! This platform is such a blessing and inspiration!
This morning during my devotions I was searching for a name of God that would help to life my spirits. My son, my only child, died around Christmas and people ask me how I am and I don’t want to say I am I’m good I’m wonderful when I don’t really feel,that way. I just needed some help so I thank you for this article. I don’t like speaking negatively so just needed to find a. way to express myself without lying, but I need to speak to joy so that my joy will be full.
This blessed me tremendously as I am seeking God for an outpouring of his joy in my life. Thanks so much for posting.
What a wonderful thing to ask God for! May He pour it out abundantly upon you!
I want to know the Joy of the Lord the overwhelming unfavormable joy