Rejoice?

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you. Philippians 4:4-9


The earth is not always in a state of spring fever with sun shining, birds twittering and flowers blooming. In winter it is dark, cold, the trees are bare and ice covers the streams. Summer, there are raging thunderstorms, intense heat, and fall earth is settling down, preparing for a season of slumber. All over the world, there are tsunamis, droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tornadoes.

Despite its vast array of temperaments, the "heavens and earth declare God's glory."

In the Christian culture, there is often the mistaken assumption that we are to be "happy" at all times. That even in the darkest of sorrows we are supposed to leap around rejoicing. While verses like the ones in Philippians are used to remind us to be thankful, prayerful and to act righteously, and other such verses remind us to be patient in and expect suffering, this idea that God is only pleased if we are always happy even in suffering is erroneous.

First of all, what does the verse actually say? It says, "Rejoice IN THE LORD!"

Someone reminded me recently that in the garden before Jesus' death, while Jesus was praying "God's will to be done" and giving glory and submission to God, Jesus wasn't dancing around the garden with his arms gleefully in the air. No, he was in so much angst and sorrow of spirit over the immensity of the task he had before him that he was sweating drops of blood. Even in my darkest hour, I haven't been that intensely sorrowful.

Lately, in my suffering, I read the Psalms that are full of angst and tears, Joseph's story, or even better, Job's!

In Job 6:1-13, we find Job full of misery. He describes his ailments over and over throughout the book, "complains" to God, wants to die, is ill and wretchedly confused.

"Then Job replied:
“If only my anguish could be weighed
and all my misery be placed on the scales!
It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas—
no wonder my words have been impetuous.
The arrows of the Almighty are in me,
my spirit drinks in their poison;
God’s terrors are marshaled against me..."

In Job 30:20-31, Job even questions God and believes that God doesn't hear him or will never bring good into his life, only endless suffering.

"I cry out to you, O God, but you do not answer;
I stand up, but you merely look at me.
You turn on me ruthlessly;
with the might of your hand you attack me.
You snatch me up and drive me before the wind;
you toss me about in the storm.
I know you will bring me down to death,
to the place appointed for all the living.
“Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man
when he cries for help in his distress.
Have I not wept for those in trouble?
Has not my soul grieved for the poor?
Yet when I hoped for good, evil came;
when I looked for light, then came darkness.
The churning inside me never stops;
days of suffering confront me."

Despite his horrible pain, though, Job demonstrates what it means to rejoice IN THE LORD, no matter his circumstances:

"Oh, that I might have my request,
that God would grant what I hope for,
that God would be willing to crush me,
to let loose his hand and cut me off!
Then I would still have this consolation—
my joy in unrelenting pain—
that I had not denied the words of the Holy One."

Job's one request, that he was willing for God to cut him out of this life prematurely, if only it would prevent him from denying God! Over and over in the book of Job, he refuses to "curse God" and continues to wrestle in his Spirit with the Lord, choosing to believe that God was just and good.

Over the past few years, I have learned that no matter my circumstances, even when life itself does not seem worth the pain, I've realized that there IS nothing in this life really worth rejoicing IN except for the Lord God. He is the only one who never fails. Jobs, people, nature, homes, money, cars, bodies, hearts, and life fails at every turn. When they are good, we can rejoice that God has blessed us abundantly, but we are never to rejoice IN them because they are weak and unable to sustain us. God is able and he is my strength.

Like the earth, which declares the glory of God throughout its seasons and tumults, we too can declare the glory of God by our weeping, questions, misery, darkness and suffering. We do this by demonstrating that even when the world around us crumbles between our fingers like drought inflicted earth, God is still on His throne and He is good.