Songs of Christmas - Joy To The World

14 Songs of Christmas – (9) Joy To The World.

Think about this. In 1719, Isaac Watts wrote the English Christmas carol, Joy to the world. The song is based on Psalm 98 from the Old Testament, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. That is a reason for joy, and the reason for this season. The song is more than 300 years old, and the joy is still available to any and all.

Before I get to the song, let me explain this 14 day run of Christmas Songs posted here. There is a reason for the season, and there is a reason for this 14 Days of Christmas Songs project as well.

Last May (2021) my younger brother suffered and lost his battle against cancer. I still haven’t completely grasped the idea that I have outlived a younger sibling. I still struggle with our loss. I still remain as a big brother to a pair of siblings and one brother now in heaven. I think of him constantly. He and I were both big fans of each other and of Christmas. We loved being with our family, especially during this time of the year.

For some months now, I have been thinking of writing more about music, about lyrics, and about the connections that music makes for us all in so many ways. This December I decided to do my 14 Songs of Christmas. My late brother’s favorite number was 14. A lot of folks knew my brother as #14. Since there are 12 days of Christmas, I figured I would come up with a different number for the songs of Christmas. 14 of them, or so.

I find it very telling that Isaac Watts wanted to relate the words of this poem so that all of nature could sing of the joy. Heaven and nature sing. All of heaven sings. All of nature sings. It’s that important.

Then, maybe my personal favorite lines, While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains

Repeat the sounding joy. I often times find myself driving through scenes of God’s creation, or outdoors just about anywhere, and thinking of the beauty and the joy found in such places. Maybe it strikes me more than most people I know because these created scenes are repeating the sounding joy. I hear it, or at least, I certainly feel it.

Joy to the world! The Lord is come! The greatest gift.

And wonders, wonders, of His love. These are too many to count. Truly, at every turn in life there is proof of His love. We tend to look at the things we want or at the way we want things to go. Then we get made, and question everything, including Him, when we don’t get our way. I cannot even count the times that I have been guilty of this, especially getting mad. I have learned not to question Him so much. Primarily because I trust Him.

The other reason that I have learned is because of my very human-ness to understand the logical reasons for things that did, or did not go my way. I have reconstructed other events that have happened in the places or in situations that I would have been a part of had I got what I wanted. So many times those things would have been so much worse for me, but they didn’t happen to me because His love for me directed me in a different way; even if I fought it at the time. We don’t know what we don’t know, and He knows all.

So ya, Joy to the world!

Joy To The World. (Casting Crowns)

Joy to the world! the Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare him room,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven, and heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the world! the Saviour reigns;
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

And wonders, wonders, of His love.

Joy to the world.

The wonders of the love.

Songwriters: Isaac Watts (1719)

Music paired to Isaac Watts’ poem by Lowell Mason.

Joy To The World – (Spotify) – (YouTube) – Celtic Woman – Sweet sounds and arrangements.

Joy To The World – (Spotify) – (YouTube) – Casting Crowns – I love the energy in this song.

Growing up in our house there was a record player in the living room and that was my favorite room, by far, once the Christmas decorations were up. There were Christmas records playing often in the living room and I would listen to the songs as I played with toys on the floor (or with little green Army men in the tree branches). There is no question, that home was, and still is, my favorite place to be at Christmas.

Many times I just sat on the heater/radiator and gazed at the lights and reflections of the decorations on the Christmas tree, while I dreamed boy’s dreams. Or perhaps I stared through the front window into the night, looking past the electric candle, and searching the skies for any hints of snow.

Sometimes, I still long to be that little kid sitting next to a frosty window, the only light in the room being the glow of our simple Christmas scene. Hearing my Mom in the kitchen and my Dad coming in from the cold night after another day working in the ministry of his calling. Siblings coming in and out, but mostly me solely focused on the songs, the words, and the reason for Christmas. Dreaming my dreams, without knowing that I was learning the tools to cope, to self-sooth, and to be calm.

Knowing that on Christmas morning, I would wake up and go downstairs with my brothers to meet Mom and Dad and my little sister at the base of the Christmas tree. We would always hear the story of that first Christmas, read from the Bible by my Dad. Oh, to go back in time to relearn what I have already learned and be more present.

Thank you for sticking with me. Music is awesome! There is something for everyone. Merry Christmas!

The 14 Songs of Christmas Series so far:

15) Songs of Christmas – Bonus Day Mix

14) Songs of Christmas – The Angels Cried

13) Songs of Christmas – Whoville Medley

12) Songs of Christmas – Walking In The Air

11) Songs of Christmas – Please Come Home For Christmas

10) Songs of Christmas – Blue Christmas