Just a few weeks ago you might have seen a very sad news story. Matthew Perry, star of the popular series, Friends, passed away. He was found in his hot tub, and a recent news article gave the results of the autopsy: “the acute effects of ketamine.”

Quick online research reveals this drug is used to treat severe depression and suicidal thoughts; it’s a hallucinogenic, and a “dissociative anesthetic.” It distorts the perception of sight and sound and makes the user feel disconnected.

From the outside looking in, you’d think Matthew Perry had everything reason to be happy. He was a successful actor. He was well-liked. He spent ten years creating a popular show and became a household name. And from what I’ve read, his fellow actors and actresses genuinely were friends. They cared about one another, both on and off the screen.

Matthew Perry had much to live from the world’s perspective, yet his life ended in what appears to be an attempt to disassociate himself from reality. He may have been happy at times, but he lacked joy.

Joy is that soul-deep sense of satisfaction and well-being that comes only from a relationship with one’s Creator. We were created to fellowship and worship God, made in His image and for His glory. Left to ourselves, as fallen human beings we are separated from the source of joy, but Jesus came to restore us – to set things right between God and men, and give us real joy.

Psalm 16:11 – You will make known to me the path of life; in Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.

This verse is tremendous, a truth that can change the trajectory of your life.

First, God wants to make known to us the “path of life.” He grieves for us when we become our own gods and set out to make our lives all about us and what we want or desire. Pursuing goals and achievement – success in the world’s eyes – material gain – power, position, prestige – all of these will mean nothing in the end and will never satisfy our souls. A life lived by our own knowledge can only lead to emptiness. We need God’s knowledge to find the path of life.

Isaiah 30:18-22 is a picture of what it means to leave our own humanly designed path and return to the path of life God has set before us:

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, and therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; how blessed are all those who long for Him. O people in Zion, inhabitant in Jerusalem, you will weep no longer. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry; when He hears it, He will answer you. Although the Lord has given you bread of privation and water of oppression, He, your Teacher will no longer hide Himself, but your eyes will behold your Teacher. Your ears will hear a word behind you, “This is the way, walk in it,” whenever you turn to the right or to the left. And you will defile your graven images overlaid with silver, and your molten images plated with gold. You will scatter them as an impure thing, and say to them, “Be gone!”

Second, joy is found only in the presence of God, and we only enter God’s presence through His Son, Jesus. The angels announced the birth of Jesus, proclaiming “good news of great joy” (Luke 2:10). Why would this baby bring joy? Because He would reunite created man with His creator through His death, burial, and resurrection, forever paying the debt of our sins and opening the way into the presence of God.

John 15:11 – These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

And finally, in the Lord’s right hand are pleasures forever. In other words, joy comes from God’s hand alone. It is what He gives, not what we try to get for ourselves. The enemy (and the world) will make promises to give us pleasure, but we know those promises are empty. The pleasures of this world will never give us real joy. We may be “happy” for a time, but ultimately, we will find it is shifting sand that gives way and leaves us empty, depressed, suicidal, and anxious to escape from the reality of our barren souls. Only what God comes from God’s hand brings joy, and only when we use what He gives for His glory, will that joy remain.

True followers of Jesus know that even in the suffering and trials that come into our lives from God’s sovereign and purposeful hands, we still have joy because we know that He can only do what is good and right, and in love for His own.

Can followers of Jesus suffer from sadness or depression? Certainly. The enemy, Satan, has no problem attacking God’s children and he loves to steal our joy. The answer is returning our hearts and minds to trusting in God’s path, seeking His presence daily, moment by moment, and asking only for what comes from His hand.

Psalm 51:12 – Restore to me the joy of Your salvation and sustain me with a willing spirit.

Do you have joy? Or are you only living day to day for a few happy moments?

Jesus came so that we could have the gift of joy. This Christmas, make sure you unwrap it!

John 16:24 – Until now you have asked for nothing in My name; ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be made full.