Rejoice in the Lord Always

Question: Do you always rejoice in the Lord no matter what circumstances or situation you are in, or do you find it very hard at times to rejoice?  I would say for myself; I don’t always feel like rejoicing in the Lord.  Now what is the problem with what I just said, the problem is the word ‘feel.’  When Paul says to, “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice.”  Paul didn’t say anything about if you feel like it, no, that wasn’t even mentioned in what Paul said, was it?  That is one of the big problems many of us have, many of us respond to things by the way we feel.  If we feel great of course we will rejoice in the Lord at times, but if we are not feeling great many of us have a problem even talking to the Lord and if we do, it is only to blame Him for what we are experiencing, forgetting that we have an enemy that would love it if he could destroy us.

When the word of God says we should do this or that, it is a good thing to do it, but do we have to?  No, we don’t have to, because we have a free will, we can choose to obey or not to obey, but to obey would be the best choice.  In fact, God’s word says, “To obey is better than sacrifice!!”  So even when we don’t feel like praising or rejoicing in the Lord, it is very important that we do.  I think while we continue to rejoice it will help us have a different perspective and may change our demeaner completely towards what we are experiencing at the time.  

Think about Paul’s experiences, the many times he was persecuted for his faith, he was always rejoicing and praising the Lord and we should be responding to our circumstances in the same way also!!  It is so easy to respond to things negatively and not positively, blaming the Lord instead of saying, “Lord, what are you trying to teach me?”   So many times, we allow our flesh to rise up and dictate our response by the way we feel at the time, instead of just being obedient and putting our trust in the Lord because He cares for us.          

      

The word of the Lord tells us this in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in Adonai with all your heart, lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.”   It seems so easy for many of us to wander off the straight and narrow path that leads to God’s kingdom.  Some of the wandering may be because we have very little knowledge of the word of God!!  

Another reason could be because our faith is weak, and we are very easily knocked around and shaken.  Sometimes we just don’t trust the word of God, even though we claim to, or maybe it is not truly comprehending the attributes of God.  I don’t claim to know all the reasons but let me encourage each of you to start rejoicing in the Lord because He is truly worthy of our thanks and praise and adoration; never stop rejoicing in Him.  Have a super day and may the good Lord bless you and yours!!