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To the people of God who possess this joy, the text points out how they are to keep it; to those who want it, the way is shown how they are to recover it. “Wait on the Lord; be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: Wait, I say on the Lord.”
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To those who question whether they ever knew it. Some think they never will — their sins, their depravity — their temptations — so press them down that they cannot attain to it. Some hope to get it, but know not how or where. “The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him and He will show them His covenant.” “Sorrowing, yet always rejoicing.”
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To those who make no pretensions to it, and are quite careless about it, the subject conveys a solemn warning. You are strangers to all true solid joy here, and you are exposed to everlasting sorrow in the world to come. “The triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the hypocrite
but for a moment.” “Son, remember, that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things and likewise Lazarus, evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.”