What are the most common words in the Bible? Okay, so take out the a, the an, the the … focus on the words used by the Bible to tell us how to behave or how our faith might make us feel or what the Bible says about how we are supposed to be with one another.
If you guessed love, you are right … 842 times the word love or loved or loving shows up. What comes in second place? Joy … some version of joy, enjoy, joyful, rejoice … shows up 694 times.
Don’t quote me as an expert who is being exact on those numbers … that was what a quick look-up showed. The point is that the word “joy” shows up a lot in the Bible, maybe second only to “love.”
I chose the words of the thirtieth Psalm for our Call to Worship this morning because it lifts up the joy that comes to relieve us in our distress. “Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” Read more…