“When I found your words, I devoured them; they became my joy and the happiness of my heart, Sing for joy, God’s chosen ones, give him the praise that is due. (Jeremiah 15:16)

Jeremiah gives us two ways to have the joy of the Lord in our hearts as something real and fulfilling. The first is the word of the Lord in the scriptures.  Not only does he say we should read the word of the Lord but we need to devoured them. What does that mean? We need to hear, reflect and act on the word of God for it to bring the joy of the Lord to us. For the word of God is given to us to bring us closer to the Lord. Secondly, he says we need to praise God with song from the heart. We find this mentioned so often in the Psalms. When we sing the praises of the heart to the Lord can we be less than joyful? Our focus again is the Lord, who is the source of our joy.  God wants us to have a joyful heart.