Faith, Joy, and God’s Promises: How to Be Sustained in Hard Times

Lee Young
Oct 21
2 min read

Psalms 51:12

12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me. (NIV)

The joy of the Lord sustains us through the hell and high water of this world. Without joy, the world wins. The devil wins. But when we have joy, even in the worst moments of our lives, the hope we have that God will soon intervene on our behalf stirs up joy. This joy increases as we remember God’s faithfulness in the past, knowing He is the same God He has always been (Hebrews 13:8). But the joy we need to sustain us is a byproduct of faith. Without faith, there is no joy (1 Peter 1:8–9).

Joy holds us together in the hard times, but to have this joy, we must first see the faithfulness of God.

The Bible teaches us to “taste and see that the Lord is good” (Psalm 34:8). We have to taste first. God’s faithfulness is all around us. As Paul teaches, His eternal power and divine nature are clearly seen through creation (Romans 1:20). We see God’s faithfulness as He provides heat so we don’t freeze, food up from the ground, and provision for people and animals alike. His faithfulness is everywhere. Though His faithfulness is evident, sometimes we need more.

The Bible is full of promises from God. Many of these are unconditional. For example, He will never stop loving us, which means He is always working for our good (Romans 8:28). But other promises are conditional or covenantal promises. They require us to taste first. For example, God says if we honor Him with our wealth, then—that is the key word—then He will open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so many blessings (Malachi 3:10; Proverbs 3:9–10).

Many of us have never taken the first step to step into our part of the covenant promises that release greater blessings so that we can see His faithfulness firsthand.

Prayer: Lord, help us to obey Your word, for these are Your promises that move You to rain down Your goodness on our lives. Amen.