In 2012, heard a sermon preached on Romans 15:13 which says in the King James Version, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” To elaborate further, he went on to say that the Lord wants to "pour His Joy out on us." Actually I had never looked at it like this before.
Sure I am familiar with scriptures like"
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- "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" Psalm 37:4
- "Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me..." Psalm 23:6
- "...for the joy of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10
Yet I had never considered the Lord wanting to pour Joy over such an unworthy person like me. It was really inspiring. As I pondered the message of this sermon, I tried to visualize what this could look like.
Consequently, I found myself transported to a hot summer day in my childhood. It had been so hot. Growing up we never had air conditioning and most of the summer that was fine in the North. To our relief the rain came. As a result my much more adventurous Brother ran outside to seek relief from the sweltering July hot spell. Almost immediately he opened the back door and beckoned me to come outside. Come and feel the rain because the rain is warm and not cold he yelled into the house. After all who wants to be showered in cold, chilly rain.
So I joined him and we played and danced in the warm rain. Fondly I could remember the joy of feeling that warm rain on my face. It was healing to my soul. When the rain stopped there was a beautiful rainbow along with more comfortable temperatures. It hit me, that was the closest metaphoric example I could come up with but it makes sense. Anyone can relate to the phrase "Let Your joy pour out like warm rain on my face." Thus, the song "Let Your Joy Pour Out," was born.
