God's Glory Church

“You will show me the way of life: joy is great with You.” — Psalm 15:11

The pandemic was winning. That’s what it looked like for Jason Persoff, an emergency room doctor who dedicated himself to saving patients with the coronavirus. What helped him to study “to the fullest”? In his off-hours, he relaxed by photographing something small, such as individual snowflakes. “Perhaps it sounds rather strange,” says Dr. Persoff, “but finding joy in something small, yet beautiful, is an opportunity to reunite with the Creator, and also to see the world as few see it.”

A wise pursuit of joy to reduce stress and increase resilience is a high value in the medical profession, the doctor believes. And to all of us he gives the following advice: “You have to breathe. You have to find a way to breathe and enjoy life.”

This opinion was expressed by the psalmist David in Psalm 15, when he proclaimed the wisdom of finding joy in God: “The Lord is part of my inheritance and my cup… Because of this, my heart rejoices and my spirit rejoices, and my body rests safely” (vv. 5, 9).

People do a lot of stupid things in an attempt to relax. Instead, Dr. Persoff found a wise way – one that pointed him to the Creator who gives us the joy of His presence. “You will show me the way of life: joy is great with You, bliss is always at Your right hand” (v. 11). In Him we find eternal joy.

How does finding wise joy bless your life? How might reading Psalm 15 inspire you to identify ways in which you find joy in God?

God, bless me in my life’s journey, that I may wisely find the joy that originates in You.

Author: Patricia Raybon