Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You. Psalm 51:7–13
When Judah’s captors requested them to sing one of the songs of Zion as they sat “by the waters of Babylon,” the forlorn Jews replied, “How shall we singed the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” (Psalms 137:4). How could they sing the song of victory that Moses composed and taught their ancestors after victory over the Egyptians (Exodus 15)? How could they sing songs like the one that David wrote about the beauty of Zion (Psalms 48)? When you are sad and discouraged, it is hard to sing, “It is well with my soul.” The worst situation is when we, like David, we find it hard to sing such songs because of sin in our lives which has robbed us of the joy of salvation.
Salvation is always accompanied with great joy. There is joy for the saved, as there was for the Ethiopian whom Philip baptized (Acts 8:39) and also for the jailor of Philippi when Paul baptized him and his household (16:33–34). There is also joy for the witnesses of that salvation, just as there is joy when a child is born into the world (cf. John 16:21; 3:5). In fact, our Lord said that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Joy often finds expression in song (1 Samuel 18:6; Psalms 98:4; Ephesians 5:18–19; Acts 16:25), and when that joy is lost, we find that we cannot sing praises as we once did.
Many have experienced the loss of the joy that accompanies salvation. Robbed of her joy, the captive Jews could not sing as they had in their homeland. The sweet psalmist found that he could no longer rejoice until the joy of God’s salvation was restored to him (Psalms 51:8, 12). A night that began with close fellowship with the Lord and singing (Matthew 26:30) ended for Peter with bitter weeping (v 75). Sin always destroys joy because it separates us from the source of all true joy (Isaiah 59:1–2). Has sin robbed you of the joy you once knew?
The good news is that this joy can be restored after it has been lost. It was for Judah. When they returned from captivity and laid again the foundations of the temple, the shouts of their rejoicing “was heard afar off” (Ezra 3:13). Their observance of the feast of unleavened bread was marked with great joy that year (6:22). Isaiah had predicted this even before the captivity began (Isaiah 35:10; 51:11; 52:9). Even after the death of three children, David found the joy of salvation again: “You have given me the shield of Your salvation; Your gentleness has made me great” (2 Samuel 22:36). Even Peter’s joy was restored when, a short while after his denial of the Christ, he was “counted worthy to suffer shame for His name” (Acts 5:41). Peter would later tell persecuted saints, “Rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy” (1 Peter 4:13).
If you want the joy of salvation back in your life, God can restore it. And like the returning exiles, “those who sow in tears shall reap in joy. He who continually goes forth weeping, bearing seed for sowing, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalms 126:5–6).