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Most people know there is a commandment that says we are not to steal. Do you remember their consecutive order and where stealing is placed? There are 10 Commandments of which the eighth one is about stealing. Exodus 20:15 is very clear about not stealing. God repeats His command throughout the Holy Bible to emphasise the importance of His instructions to us. If you would like to refer to more scriptures, some of these can be found in Deuteronomy 5:19, Leviticus 19:11, Romans 13:9, and Matthew 19:18.
Stealing can come in many forms depending on the desire. It may be small such as a biro or ball point pen from work, or maybe some other stationery item that catches your eye. Years ago when living a paganistic lifestyle I engaged in shoplifting for a very short time. It gave me temporary excitement and quite a thrill which was wrong, and I am very thankful I was not caught. My thoughts at the time were “Nobody would suspect me as I am a married woman living in a wealthy area, have plenty of money, full time work, and want for nothing—the perfect crime!” How foolish my thoughts were back then without the valuable benefit of God’s great wisdom and knowledge. The buzz from the “high” was real each and every time I successfully wheeled away the trolley with stolen items — I thought it was something incredibly dangerous, fun, and I got away with it. Ahhhh...but did I really? I was only fooling myself as God sees everything! (compare Hebrews 4:13, Proverbs 5:21 and 15:3). However upon reflection, and with the benefit of hindsight, I think that might have been the very beginning of what was to come — depression. Now I shudder in disbelief and wide eyed amazement I could be that sinful with poor character. It is amazing how God forgives us upon baptism, when we make this conscious choice as adults, even sins we are dreadfully ashamed and embarrassed about. But He does, and thankfully His mercy and forgiveness run deep and lovingly pure, because He knows the intentions and motivations of our hearts and whether we are sincerely seeking forgiveness through repentance (Romans 8:27).
I cannot in all honesty say I experienced any bursts of joy out of these times of stealing as it was rather more a nerve wracking ordeal, as at any moment store detectives could have asked to search my bags or the bottom of the trolley for hidden items. If that had happened I would have felt so low and worthless but yet, even so, it did not stop me. I cannot remember now what did put an end to my days of theft. As I try to remember these dark times in my life over 20 years ago things are fuzzy from my memory bank for some points, but I know with certainty and clarity there was no joy at all...more a compulsion and addiction...some sort of inner drive of a warped thrill of getting something for nothing and deceiving myself that I had triumphed because I had skill in deceiving others. I wonder if this is how the devil thinks and feels?
With baptism and God’s Spirit dwelling within me presently, all I can say is that there is real sustainable joy now, and I am so very grateful those days are far behind me. Living as a Christian we do have tests and trials but we also experience wonderful joy that is both physical and supernatural. I love it! Reading the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John I try to meditate upon what it may have been like to live through their experiences while with Jesus when He lived as a human about 2,000 years ago. Thinking about many of Christ’s replies to His apostles, the humour, the love, the joy...it is very evident that joy was a huge part of our older brother’s daily attitude. Yes, He was referred to as a man of sorrows in Isaiah 53:3 but He was full of joy as He was filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit, as mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23, of which joy is only second to love. Why was Jesus so full of joy when He knew He was going to die a brutal torturous shameful death? And we know He despised the shame of it all. If we read Hebrews 12:2 and John 17:13 we will see why. It was all for us.
God Gives Us Supernatural Joy
We are so very blessed to have this joy but we need to work at maintaining this gift as our enemy sets out daily to steal it away from us. For me it is like I am riding on the high mountain tops when all of a sudden wham! The devil comes along and pulls the carpet out from under my feet, as it were. Very alarming and unexpected which gives unsettled feelings of “What just happened and where to now?” Does this sound familiar to you too? My experiences are such that it happens more often than not and I couldn’t even tell you how many times this has happened during my walk with God. All I know is that there seems to be a relentless pattern of stealing my joy to wear me out and try to shut down all my efforts at spreading the good news of the gospel. It is tiring and discouraging, but when others ask us about what motivates and inspires us, as I try to be ready with an answer upon every occasion no matter when it occurs, as per the scripture in 2 Timothy 4:2, this is incredibly encouraging and fills me with joy!
The following scripture talks about the thief who Christians know to be the devil or Satan, our enemy and adversary. In John 10:10 we read “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I [Christ Jesus] have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly”. No matter how many times the devil attempts to steal our joy we can overthrow his dirty, wicked tactics with God's help. We have a choice to make. My choice is to immediately go to God in prayer and cry aloud as to what is happening and to beseech our Heavenly Father to restore my joy in full. This always works as our Father wants to give us every good gift from above (James 1:17). He desires us to have real lasting joy, not the fleeting temporary joy experienced by those out in the world...a joy that is there only until the next round of sorrows steals it.
No matter how much the enemy tries to bring us down and turn joy to fear, sadness, anger, doubt, frustration, or even depression, there is one scripture that says so much in order to comfort us with hope and this is found in 1 Peter 1:6-9 which states “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you have been grieved by various trials, that the genuineness of your faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honour, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen, you love. Though now you do not see Him, yet believing, you rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, receiving the end of your faith—the salvation of your souls”.
For this is the very essence of our calling. We have been called to a life of service to God and to others in living righteously now and no devil is ever going to thwart our plans and take us out because God is for us as Romans 8:31 clearly declares. Our part is to figuratively get up, shake the dust off, and keep on going no matter the test or trial. Remember what God tells us in Isaiah 14:12-17 — that one day we will all look upon this individual and consider how pathetic he really is. Do not let the devil steal your joy as he is addicted to any power we may inadvertently give him by being sorrowful or temporarily deterred while serving our Lord and Master. Jesus Christ continued on in joy right until His last breath as He died for our sins. Now we shall live on in faith and joy for what is set before us trusting Him that whatever is ahead, it will not be more than we can bear as we know in 1 Corinthians 10:13 that He will provide the means or way of escape. So count it all joy as in James 1:2 and hold onto your joy as this gift is so very precious. We look to our perfect example of Jesus Christ and keep His words close to our hearts from John 15:11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full”.