Q&A: Joy
Joy
Question
Hello,
Is there significance to serving God with joy?
{“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart”}
Answer
Why not? If you’re joyful, that energizes serving Him. But in my opinion, joy has no value in and of itself, just like emotions in general. You can search here on the site for discussions about emotions and their value. There is also a series of columns about the value of experiences and religiosity.
Discussion on Answer
Yes. The gates of interpretation have not been locked. Taken literally, it is very hard to accept that such a punishment would come for the absence of joy.
The gates of interpretation are wide open: “Because you did not serve” means when you were in joy from an abundance of everything, and then “you shall serve your enemies” in hunger and thirst and lack of everything.
Despite the verse?