...Do not grieve for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Nehemiah 8:10

Summer breezes, children's giggles, and a never quite in tune guitar.  We stumbled through endless verses of the bouncing song in half a dozen keys at once.  A Bible school staple, a guaranteed net to capture their fleeting attention.

I guess I always knew it was in the Bible, but I never wondered from where.  If anything, I would have guessed a time of great celebration, a victory in battle, the song of a conquering hero.  In one sense it was of course.  The children of Israel have returned to their land.  The walls have been rebuilt.   The Law of God has been proclaimed before them as they've gathered to acknowledge his gifts. 

But there's no celebrating now.  The grief of all they've lost overwhelms them.  The missing years, the forgotten commands, the guilt over all they could have been, over all they were meant to be. 

In the crushing weakness of failure, "Go," Nehemiah told them. Eat, drink, celebrate together.  Their strength, their hope, their new beginning were powered by the joy of the Lord at their return.