“God my exceeding joy “ – literally, “the gladness of my joy.”“Gladness” can also mean “feast” or “banquet.” In other words, a party! “Joy” can mean “turning around” with glee. Do you get the picture! God can be “the life of the party.” To draw near to Him is to approach the fountain of happiness, even hilarity. On the day of Pentecost, the Apostles were so filled with merriment by the Holy Spirit that others thought they were drunk, because the fruit of the Spirit includes joy (Galatians 5:22). Those who know God have their sins forgiven. They are assured of strength for daily life and provision for the future. They have an unshakeable hope, the certainty that they will live forever with Christ on a new earth pulsating with the immediate presence of God Himself. Those who trust in Christ – the light of the world and the truth of God in human form – enter into the holy, and therefore happy, throne room of God. From that vantage point, they see the world fully under the benign control of a loving Father and righteous Judge. In every person they meet, everything they see, they behold the beauty of God. No wonder the psalmist said to himself, “Why are you cast down [depressed], O my soul? … Hope in God!”