Do you get your joy from the right things? Jesus’ disciples rejoiced that he was absent from them. Look at Luke 24:52 - after he was taken from them, hidden from them, no longer physically present, no longer within reach and completely out of sight, they went back to Jerusalem "with great joy".
Of course, their joy wasn’t rooted in his absence but in what that absence meant: he had ascended into heaven as the Priest whose sacrifice for sin had been effective and whose blessing would remain on them; he had ascended as the King over all who would govern all things for the sake of his people and for his purposes of grace for the world. That’s why they rejoiced at his absence.
Is your joy rooted in those realities or are you looking to find joy in certain experiences of the nearness of God - something that can be felt, something unusual? Those experiences may come or they may not. But their absence does not invalidate the larger realities of the ascended Lord Jesus Christ whose blessing was, is and remains on his people. That’s where joy can be securely rooted.
