God Is the Gladness in All Our Joys

Psalm 43:4 contains a short but profound phrase that invites us into a deeper experience of joy. “Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy.” For many, this verse is a poetic way of saying, “God is better than anything else.” And that’s true. But what if it means even more? What if it also means God is not just better than all joys but the very best part of every joy?

That question stirred the heart of one pastor, Robert from Wisconsin, who rightly asked whether “God my exceeding joy” could be better translated, as some have suggested, “God the joy of my joys.” This alternate rendering, rooted in the Hebrew phrase śim-ḥaṯ gî-lî, literally “the joy of my gladness,” opens up a stunning truth: God is not only supreme over all pleasures. He is also present within them.

This is not simply a matter of semantics. It’s a call to rediscover the purpose of pleasure, the essence of delight, and the true meaning of enjoying God in everything He has made.

More Than Just the Greatest Joy

Most English translations capture the sense that God is our greatest joy. That is a biblical and vital truth. Psalm 73:25 echoes it: “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” God is our treasure, not just above other things, but in such a way that all other things pale in comparison.

But Psalm 43:4 may be saying more than just comparison. The phrase “the joy of my gladness” hints at something richer essence. Not only is God better than all joys, but He is the very best part within them. He is what makes every joy truly joyful.

God in the Gifts

Think about the gifts of daily life: the satisfaction of a warm meal, the embrace of a friend, the colors of a sunrise, the sound of a child’s laughter. These are not merely pleasures we enjoy beside God they are meant to be enjoyed in God and through God.

As Paul writes in 1 Timothy 6:17, “Set your hope on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy.” Notice, Paul does not warn against enjoying created things. Instead, he roots our enjoyment in the Giver. The things God made are good not so we might love them in isolation, but so that we might love Him more fully through them.

This is why simply being thankful isn’t enough. Gratitude is good, but even a person can be thankful for a gift while not treasuring the giver. To truly glorify God in our enjoyment, we must go beyond gratitude we must savor God in the experience itself.

Avoiding Idolatry Through Union

The danger of idolatry isn’t just loving things too much it’s loving them apart from God. Enjoying a beautiful moment without sensing God’s beauty in it is like admiring a painting and forgetting the painter.

If God is the joy of our joys, then He must be the gladness within every gladness. As John Piper once said, “Every joy that does not have God as the central gladness of the joy is a hollow joy and, in the end, will burst like a bubble.”

So, how do we avoid that? By letting every good thing lead us back to its source. When we taste sweetness, we remember that God is sweeter (Psalm 119:103). When we feel the comfort of friendship, we remember that He is the Friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24). When we marvel at beauty, we let it point us to the One who is altogether lovely (Song of Solomon 5:16).

The Cross as the Altar of Joy

Psalm 43:4 invites us to “go to the altar of God.” For New Testament believers, that altar is the cross the place where Jesus poured out His life to bring us to God. It is there that our joy is most clearly anchored, because it is there that our sins were forgiven and our hearts were opened to see God not as judge but as Father.

At the cross, we find not only the removal of guilt, but the restoration of joy. It is the place where God becomes not just a truth to be believed, but a delight to be experienced.

Echoes from Christian History

This truth is not new. Saints throughout the ages have seen it. Thomas Traherne wrote, “You never enjoy the world aright, till you see how a sand exhibiteth the wisdom and power of God.” And Augustine declared, “He loves Thee too little who loves anything together with Thee, which he loves not for Thy sake.”

In other words, we do not enjoy rightly until we enjoy God in what we love. We love the world best when we love it for God’s sake when we see His fingerprints on every detail and hear His voice in every delight.

Let Joy Lead You to Him

Psalm 43:4 is more than a verse it’s a vision. A vision of a life where every joy becomes a path to God. Where a walk in the woods becomes worship. Where music becomes meditation. Where laughter becomes liturgy. Where eating and drinking become acts of divine delight (1 Corinthians 10:31).

So don’t just thank God for the gifts taste Him in them. Let Him be the gladness in your joys, the sweetness in every savor, the rhythm in every song. For when we do, we discover that our joys no longer compete with God they magnify Him.

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