Rejoice, that’s joy in action. The scripture clearly tells us that we need
to rejoice.
“Rejoice in the Lord
always; again I will say, rejoice.”
Philippians 4:4
Not only are we
told to rejoice, but specifically to rejoice in the Lord, and always,
and in case we didn’t get that, again
we are told to rejoice. Sometimes the
joy is easy, just natural, and sometimes the joy is hard, and we have to really
dig deep to find that place to rejoice always, in all things. There are so many scriptures where we are told
to rejoice. I will look at some now from
the Old and New Testaments, and hopefully learn something about what the Lord
would have us know about rejoicing.
“And you shall rejoice in
all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house…”
Deuteronomy 26:11
Here is some easy
joy, rejoicing in the good, but let us not forget to do even this, bringing the
glory back to the giver of the good. Let
us not be quick to forget that He is the giver of all things good, and the
praise is due to Him.
“Glory in
his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!” 1 Chronicles 16:10
Glory, that’s another beautiful word we see in scripture, and used here as a
verb. Dictionary.com defines the verb
form of glory as “to exult
with triumph; rejoice proudly.” Oh to glory in His holy name! And who is doing this rejoicing? The hearts of those who seek the LORD, that’s
you and me, dear believer.
“But let all
who take refuge in you rejoice;
let them ever sing for joy, and spread your protection over them, that those
who love your name may exult in you.” Psalm 5:11
The Lord is our
protection. We run to Him for refuge,
and there in His embrace, we rejoice, singing for joy. We, those who love His name, exult in Him. Back to Dictionary.com for a definition of
exult, and we find, “to show
or feel a lively or triumphant joy; rejoice exceedingly; be highly elated or
jubilant.” Just reading those words
brings a smile to my face. Oh our great
God and Savior, our protector, is due this kind of praise! I do believe it is circular too, this
beautiful expression of joy in our Lord.
He loves us and creates joy in us, which we turn towards Him, and in
turn we have more joy, more joy to turn to Him, then more joy in us, more to
Him, more in us…and on and on and on.
“But I have
trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” Psalm 13:5
Beautiful. When we trust in His love, His steadfast, His
unwavering, firm, trustable love, our hearts can rejoice in His salvation. He’s our Savior. That is always reason to rejoice.
I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast
love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my
soul.” Psalm 31:7
Again we see that
it is in His steadfast love that we can rejoice, and He is not a far away God
who doesn’t know us. No, He is
acquainted with our sorrows, and acquainted with us. Yes, even though we have affliction and
distress in our souls, we also know His love, His steadfast love, and it is
there where we can still rejoice in those hard joys.
“But may all
who seek you rejoice and be glad
in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the LORD!”
Psalm 40:16
“Great is the
LORD” not just when things are going great for us, but at all times. Yes, He is great when I have a beautiful
healthy baby born, and He is great when my baby passes away before the first
breath. Yes, He is great when we are
doing well financially or when we are not sure how we are going to pay all the
bills. Yes, He is great when I am happy,
and He is great when I am experiencing deep sorrow. Easy joys and hard joys, they are both times
for rejoicing because His greatness has absolutely nothing to do with my
circumstances, and that is a good thing.
His greatness is based on who He is, Savior. In that we can rejoice.
“This is the day that the LORD has made; let
us rejoice and be glad in
it.” Psalm 118:24
What a beautiful
verse for us to meditate on every day!
Not a day goes by apart from the Lord’s making, apart from His grace,
reason for rejoicing.
“I will
greatly rejoice in the LORD; my
soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of
salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom
decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns
herself with her jewels.” Isaiah 61:10
My Savior has
taken away my sin and replaced it with His righteousness. He has taken out my heart of stone and
replaced it with flesh. He has made me
beautiful. No matter what else is going on
in my life, I can rejoice in these truths.
“Then shall
the young women rejoice in the
dance, and the young men and the old shall be merry. I will turn their mourning
into joy; I will comfort them, and give them gladness for sorrow.” Jeremiah
31:13
I love this
verse. I find such comfort in serving a
God who will turn my mourning into joy.
I have seen it time and time again in my life. I do believe that sometimes we have to look
for the joy. It is there if we seek it.
“The LORD
your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save;
he will rejoice over you with gladness; he
will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.”
Zephaniah 3:17
Look closely at
his verse. Don’t miss who is doing the
rejoicing and exulting here. It is the
Lord, rejoicing over His people! Our
Savior is made glad rejoicing over us, quieting us with His love, exulting over
us with loud singing. What joy is found
here in this beautiful verse! Oh how He
loves us!
“Blessed are
you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn
your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for
behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the
prophets.” Luke 6:22-23
That is hard joy
there, rejoicing and leaping for joy when people persecute us for our faith,
but Christ is reminding us that our reward is in heaven, not here on
earth. This world is temporary. We can rejoice in the hope of our future with
Christ in heaven.
“So also you
have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy
from you.” John 16:22
Jesus was
speaking of his death and resurrection.
His followers would experience sorrow as they lost the physical Jesus
that walked with them, but He was resurrected and we are given the gift of the
Holy Spirit to walk through this life with each day. The joy this truth brings cannot be taken
from us.
“Through him
we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we
rejoice in hope of the glory of
God.” Romans 5:2
Yes.
“Not only
that, but we rejoice in our
sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance.” Romans 5:3
That’s hard joy
again, but it’s not in vain.
“For if
while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much
more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus
Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.” Romans 5:10-11
Reconciliation,
that’s huge! We were enemies to
God. Christ saved us, unworthy
sinners. Let that truth sink in, and
rejoice in the Lord.
“Rejoice in hope, be
patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”
Romans 12:12
If nothing else,
because of Christ, we have hope, and we can rejoice in that.
“Blessed
be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy,
he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled,
and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded
through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this
you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved
by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious
than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in
praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have
not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him
and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the
outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” 1 Peter 1:3-9
Read that and
then read it again. We have a reason to
rejoice!
I pray that the
Lord has spoken to you about how you can rejoice in Him always, the easy joys
and the hard joys, always finding the One who is worthy of rejoicing.
