Maintaining the Joy of Doing God’s Will

King David of ancient Israel was one who sought to do God’s will all his life. In spite of the many hardships and pressures brought against him, he was inspired to say: “To do your will, O my God, I have delighted, and your law is within my inward parts.” (Psalm 40:8) Doing Jehovah’s will was in David’s very soul, in his very being. That was the secret of his unfading joy in serving Jehovah. Doing God’s will was not a hardship to David. Rather, it was a delight, something that came from his heart. All through his life, he struggled to do his best to serve his God, Jehovah, even though he did sometimes sin and fall short.

On occasion, our joy may wane. We may become fatigued or downhearted. Perhaps our past haunts us, our conscience troubling us over some wrong act committed long in the past. Often, we can conquer these feelings by a more thorough study of God’s Word. We can aim to inscribe God’s law on our “inward parts,” as David did. If we try to do the will of God whole-souled, that is, to the best of our ability, he will reward us accordingly because he is faithful.​—Ephesians 6:6; Hebrews 6:10-12; 1 Peter 4:19.

Interestingly, at Hebrews 10:5-7, the apostle Paul quoted David’s words at Psalm 40:6-8 and applied them to Jesus Christ. In doing so, Paul pointed out how close Jesus was to his Father. The Hebrew word for “will” carries the thoughts ‘delight, desire, favor, or pleasure.’ Therefore, Psalm 40:8 may read concerning the Christ: “To do your pleasure, O my God, I have delighted.”a Jesus wanted to do what pleased his Father. Jesus went beyond doing what was asked of him. He did what was close to his Father’s heart, and he enjoyed doing it.

Jesus’ whole life revolved around teaching others what God’s will is and what they must do to gain God’s blessing. He was a full-time preacher and teacher and found great joy in doing that work. Therefore it follows that the more we do Jehovah’s work, the more joy we will receive. Can you too serve full-time in the preaching work so that your joy may also abound?