Rejoice

by Paul Thomas

Several times throughout the Bible, God’s people are told to rejoice. Consider these passages:

“But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God; yea, let them exceedingly rejoice” (Psalm 68:3). Jesus admonished His disciples to “Rejoice and be exceedingly glad” even when they were persecuted (Matthew 5:12). Romans 14:17 says that “…the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but is righteousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.”

However, there are some days that we do not feel like rejoicing. In Jonah 2:3-6, Jonah felt like he was being swept away as “the current engulfed me. All your breakers and billows passed over me…water encompassed me to the point of death…weeds wrapped around my head…but You have brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my God.” There will be times when the undertow of hard times sweep you away, the waves are constantly crashing over you, the sea weed wraps around your head to the point where you can’t see any rays of hope…yet God is there, ready to lift you out of the depths of despair and give you new life and hope.

What do we have to rejoice about?

The first thing we can rejoice about is the forgiveness of our sins through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Once the burden of sin has been lifted from our souls, we now can become heirs with Christ and have eternal life in heaven one day (Titus 3:7). We also have God’s Word to equip us (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and comfort us (Psalm 119:50) in our lives. We have the brethren to encourage, strengthen, and watch out for our needs (1 Thessalonians 5:11, 1 Timothy 6:18-19). God is also going to take care of our physical needs if we make Him first in our lives (Matthew 6:33). He can heal us when we are sick, if it is His Will (James 5:15). He can comfort us when we go through hard times (2 Corinthians 1:4), as well as help us to our home in heaven (Philippians 2:13). The list goes on…

God has given us many things to rejoice about; therefore, there is no excuse for us not to be happy, despite the occasional hard times that we may go through in our lives.

Paul, who suffered many things, said “Finally my brethren, rejoice in the Lord, and again I say, rejoice” (Philippians 4:4).