Rejoice- Always?

 

In thinking on the desire to do God’s will, it is important to consider what God’s word tells us about His will for our lives. Even though we cannot know God’s future will for us, we can know His present will for us as believers. We can know that we must be joyful, prayerful and thankful Christians today and every day for 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us to “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” This is far easier said than done however. It is not too difficult for us as believers to be prayerful, however to be thankful and joyful…..in everything? It is easy to be thankful and joyful when things are going the way we want them to, but what about when the circumstances of our lives are such that we are tempted to give in to discouragement and even depression? These are the times when we must even more earnestly seek the Lord. David does this in Psalm 51:12, when he says “Restore to me the joy of your salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit.”

What is the joy of our salvation? It is the fact of knowing that God is sovereign and in complete control. It is knowing that our loving Heavenly Father wants what is best for us, and He is working things out to that end. He is making us more like Christ through the process of sanctification, which involves hardships and trials. James writes “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing” (James 1:2-4).

Reading, believing and acting in such a way as to display a complete trust in the truth of God’s teachings, (regardless of how we feel) is the best way to promote prayerful, thankful and even joyful lives. We are reminded in God’s word that he has a plan for each of his children. Jeremiah 29:11 reads “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.” We must trust that God is in control and that He is working through all things for our good, as the familiar verse in Romans 8:28 affirms, and verse 29 reads “For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.” God is working to conform us to the image of Christ as we walk in step with His Spirit, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me” (Colossians 1:28-29).

If Paul could look on all his trials as ‘light momentary afflictions’, we should be able to do the same through our own struggles and trials. I doubt any of us could have survived what he went through. In 2 Corinthians 11:24-28 we read of Paul’s hardships, “Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.” And yet, he could pen the following words in 2 Corinthians 4;16-17, “So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.”

We must believe with Paul that our earthly afflictions are momentary and that one day we will be fully perfected in Christ. “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope” (Romans 15:13). This is where our true joy comes from.. knowing that our loving Heavenly Father is doing what is best for us. Not through fulfilling our earthly desires, but by giving us hearts that desire to live in the light of eternity as we become more and more like our Savior,. And so we can truly “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).