The Lord came into this world to save us and to give us the true riches of life that are hidden in Him. One of these is His joy. It is essential for us to have "His joy" because if we do not, we shall be without strength to fight our spiritual battles, or to grow as our Lord commands (Neh. 8:10, II Pet. 3:18). Our "trees" will wither away, and we will change truth for the error of the wicked (Joel 1:12, II Pet. 3:17, Psa. 10:13).

Let us take a look at what the joy of the Lord was.

His joy was the glorifying of God in the salvation of men and women at any cost to Himself – His life, honor, or reputation (Jn. 17:1). Though He despised the shame, He kept the glory of it in His mind (Heb. 12:2). His delight was to do the will of God. He continually thought about all that was written about Him and purposed in His heart to fulfill it (Matt. 26:24). 

His joy was that His Father was the Sovereign Ruler in heaven and earth, and did, and does, as He pleases (Dan. 4:35, Lk. 10:21) Though His Father rejected those that were wise in their own eyes (Prov. 26:12), the Lord sees the holiness, righteousness, justice, wisdom, goodness, truth, glory, and majesty of His Father and He rejoices. 

His joy was also in His God, His Father, knowing Him, and loving Him (Jn. 17:23).

This is the joy that He has given to us when we become believers in Him (Rom. 15:13, I Pet. 1:8)..

Is this our joy? If not, is it any wonder that we are not doing much singing?

Doves sing from morning to night in the spring. Our Lord, our Dove of peace, rejoices over us with joy and manifests His joy by singing (Zeph. 3:17).

If we are to be true to our name, "My Dove," we must sing as our God does. We may have to change our schedule, and our diet though, to do it. 

They used to say, "The early bird gets the worm." So we, also, must rise up early to seek the Lord in His word and prayer so that we can consume some "worms." The "worms" are spiritual pride, hypocrisy, self-confidence, selfishness, and worldliness. The Lord warns us about these poisonous, and unclean creatures in the Old Testament and the New (Lev. 11:42-43, Matt16:6, Mk. 8:15). They are all killers of spiritual life and joy. 

May God help us to do it, so that we will not only sing with joy in His tabernacle, but we will sing with joy even upon our beds (Psa.27:6, 149:5).

Remember His words to you and they may help you to do it.

"Oh, My dove - how sweet is your voice. Let me hear it."