“Surely you have granted him unending blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.” –Psalm 21:6 (TNIV)
More than a dozen of us gathered at the World Wide Conference in Cancun. The center of our interest was to learn who among the Novo family had leaned into neuro-theological practices. The discoveries of our brain have revealed much about our Creator and how to love like him. Even more, these discoveries have shown how the Church can experience a greater transformation. Our interest continued after the conference and a cohort was formed to learn under Michel Hendricks, author of “The Other Half of Church: Christian Community, Brain Science, and Overcoming Spiritual Stagnation.” For six sessions, we practiced the five foundational, neuro-theological practices.
Understanding more on how God developed our brain has opened up the Bible for me. This brings me to Psalm 21:6, and the phrase, “with the joy of your presence.” Joy is the fuel which our brains run on. It is essential for attachment from which we develop family bonds, the strongest bonds we can make. These bonds will determine our character. Our brains need more than beliefs—we seek family bonds. As a result, we are constantly looking for joy.
In this Psalm, David has joy in God’s presence. But in neuroscience, presence is not enough. I can be present with my dentist, but there is no joy. Joy for our brain is defined as “what I feel in my body when I see someone’s face who is happy to be with me.” Joy is in the face.
Looking behind the modern English translation, this is what we see. The original language says that David is glad, “with the joy from God’s face.” God is happy to be with David and this is a non-verbal interaction. Our modern translations have lost an important idea from the ancient Israelites—we get our joy from faces who are glad to be with us. The Psalms consistently speak of this as God’s position to David and to us.
I will be honest, I did not think these practices would make much difference for me. I have great joy, yet there is always more. Before, I did not understand how joy is regulated in my body, which is different from happiness or excitement. Now, being able to read my body like a dashboard in a car informs me how I am experiencing Immanuel. In addition, I did not know how best to experience that Jesus is really glad to be with me, even when I feel shame or fear.
Because of Jesus, God is always glad to be with us. This is good news! And I cannot help but wonder: if the Church had higher joy levels, how much more would we share the good news? Or, with a greater joy in my body, how much more could I endure suffering?
God’s face lights up to be with us. The Israelites knew this even though our English translators missed it. But not our song writers. I hope you can smile back to God as you listen to this song.
When the storm rages, I won't be afraid
'Cause I have locked eyes on You face to face
Your voice I will follow, Your eyes I will see
Oh, come a little closer, come close to me.
This worship song can be found here.
Reflect:
The Psalmist says that we “enter his gates with thanksgiving” (Psalm 100:4). This also gives us a picture on how our brain works: we receive joy by giving thanks. But in order to love God with all of our brain, three daily steps are key: 1) Ask God to give you something to be grateful about in the past few days. Relive the moment with as many of your five senses as possible. Name the moment by giving it a title. 2) Ask Jesus to reveal himself in the moment and to share his thoughts about it with you. How do you read Jesus’s face? Write these thoughts down. 3) Finally, identify in your body, where are you feeling joy? This will train our brain on regulating our joy levels. If you are low on joy, practice these steps again.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Joe and Connie Schimmels live in Northern Colorado, laboring for gospel movement. They have three adult children: Andrew, Brooke, and Caleb. If you are interested in learning more on neuro-theology, they would be happy to connect you.