"Moderate strength is shown in violence, supreme strength is shown in levity." - G.K. Chesterton
At first this quote struck me as just odd. Then, on further reflection it struck me as profound, but only only once one has truly experienced the joy of the Lord does its full truth ring home. It seems like the gray cloud of familiarity and mediocrity rolls back from this world, if only for a moment and you glimpse the world as the paradise it was designed to be. This experience leads Chesterton to proclaim, "Most probably we are still in Eden, it is only our eyes that have changed."
Perhaps the single greatest symptom of this pure joy is a suprarational invincibility, almost a sense of transcendence. All the seemingly significant troubles shrink to the point that they almost fade from view. The only response to them seems to be laughter. Laughter is the response of the idiot or the invincible. Perhaps the best word to describe it is mirth. It's that look that crosses Gandalf's face and finds realization in the corners of his mouth when he faces imminent death on the walls of Minas Tirith. He has traveled that path before and overcome. He has glimpsed the far side and when it confronts him again he says, "The grey rain curtain of this world folds back and all turns to silver glass." The words of a fool or a master.
Nehemiah knew this sense. He was confronted with overwhelming problems, yet I can't imagine that he did other than laugh as he proclaimed, "The joy of the Lord is my strength." I'm sure he felt the invincibility that true joy brings and I am just as sure that he was truly invincible.
"You are now with us here
We are found in You
And this makes all the difference,
This changes everything
Making our whole existence
Worth something so we sing:
Oh, You make all the difference,
Yeah, You change everything
You make our whole existence
Worth something so we sing:
La, la, la"
...Neverending... by David Crowder
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