Make us Glad

One of the things I love about God is the way he can take a life that has suffered or even a life that was defiled by sinful atrocities, and still bring joy into this person’s life.  Sometimes I ponder over the many marriages that are just barely hanging on; the couples that live in constant hostility or loneliness.  And then I think of how God can at any time and even at the end of one's life, give just a few years that bring so much happiness that all of the past hurt does not compare. God is no a kill joy...he desires to do us good, but not at the expense of being changed into his image.  Thus it would appear that "the so much happiness" may depend on how quickly we learn what he is trying to teach us.  This reminds me of two of God's promises in the OT.  The first is in Joel 2:25 which focuses on the restoration of the years that the locusts have eaten and the second is found in Psalm 90:15

            “Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years as we have seen evil.”