Rejoice Always

Aug 27

Written By Amanda Windham

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”

— 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

How do you typically cope when you've had a terrible day, or for many of us a tough year? Our fight or flight instincts and turbulent emotions urge us to lash out in anger or bury our sorrows in self indulgence. We may despair, doubt God, and wallow in our pain, or panic and try to micromanage anything we can control to feel like we have some power over the chaos. But these responses only soothe us for a moment without providing long term improvements to our lives or the lives of our loved ones. As we do today, God's people in the past struggled to manage the weight of their emotions, circumstances, and responsibilities in hard times. Since God is the source of all goodness, His Word has the solution (Psalm 34:8, James 1:17).

The Bible’s authors led extraordinary lives, but they were every bit as human as we are. God gave us their words and examples to show we can overcome suffering with His help. Let's look at Paul and David, two men who penned a large portion of the scriptures.

Someone who wasn't familiar with David's life might assume he had it easy when reading the beautiful, exuberant praise passages he wrote in Psalms (Psalm 107:1). But in reality, former friends and family hunted him down to murder him, he lost children to tragedy, fought in brutal wars, and later in life was bedridden (1 Samuel 23-24, 1 Chronicles 18, 2 Samuel 12:16-23, 2 Samuel 18:33, 1 King 1). In the same psalm, David often mourns his heartaches and praises God's goodness in the next verse (Psalm 119:14,28). We know from his writings and history David understood how much pain a human can suffer through personal experience (Psalm 6). Yet during the worst situations and despite his own imperfections, David never gave up seeking and worshipping God. Because of this commitment, the Bible calls him a man after God's own heart (Acts 13:22).

The New Testament author and apostle Paul endured many unpleasant things after becoming a Christian (2 Corinthians 11:16-33). When Paul told the Thessalonians who were new converts facing persecution to ”rejoice always ” and ”give thanks in everything, ” his instructions probably seemed unrealistic or callous given their situation (1 Thessalonians 1:3-5, Philippians 4:4). Regardless of the solemn subject of persecution in Paul's letter, words like joy, hope, love, and rejoice appear repeatedly throughout 1 and 2 Thessalonians. It wasn't because Paul didn't care about or understand their difficulties that he told Christians to rejoice. Paul mentions he had endured persecution at Philippi in Acts 16 and 1 Thessalonians 2:2. He and Silas received beatings and a jail sentence for preaching the gospel, but they responded by praying and singing praises to God. Their rejoicing stood out like a beacon in the darkness and the Philippian jailer and his entire family became Christians as a result (Acts 16:25-40). Paul told the Thessalonians to rejoice because he had seen God's ability to transform suffering and bring good out of evil when God's people turn to Him.

Since Paul and Silas couldn't have been happy and comfortable in the Philippian jail, we know rejoicing doesn't have to come from our current emotions. This doesn't mean we're fake, in denial, or suppressing our emotions. God's Word frequently uses expressive language and talks about God Himself as being angry or sad (Numbers 11:1, Psalm 37:12-13, John 11:35, John 3:16). The difference in our emotions and God’s is, unlike Him, our reactions are based off our temporary experiences, limited knowledge, and flawed human natures. Because of this, our human emotions don't always benefit us, so they can not be allowed to rule over us (Romans 12:2). Rejoicing doesn't depend on anything from this world. It comes from the truth of who God is and what He has done for us (1 John 2:17). Rejoicing is both a coping strategy and a ”sacrifice of thanksgiving” that we commit to instead of giving our feelings power to lead us away from the perpetual light, love, and truth of God (Psalm 116:17, Hebrews 13:15).

Our thoughts and feelings can shift from one extreme to the other so quickly that ”following your heart” or expecting ourselves to stoically endure hardship without flinching are both unrealistic ways of approaching life's problems. Our thoughts and emotions are a way the devil tries to deceive us, and so they may not actually be accurate (Jeremiah 17:9, Ecclesiastes 9:3, 2 Corinthians 11:14). If our feelings are valid for the moment, they are not necessarily true eternally (2 Corinthians 4:8-10). Even a lifelong sorrows has a beginning and an end, but the joy God promises us is endless (Psalm 30:5, Ecclesiastes 3:4, Revelation 21:4).

Though God tells us suffering is part of the Christian life, He says it won't be wasted, and always gives blessings in this life along with hardships (Romans 8:28, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18). Blessings don't erase heartache, but temporary heartbreak can not cancel out the greatness of God's infinite love and blessings either (Psalm 116:7-17, Psalm 119:141-143, 2 Corinthians 11:22-2:10). God promises us the pleasure of heaven will outweigh this world’s pain (2 Corinthians 4:17). Since the only way out of difficulty is usually walking through it, wasting our strength on feeling miserable beyond what is necessary to process our emotions is counterproductive, self destructive and discourages those we influence (Proverbs 17:27). Although we may not be in the mood, we are far less vulnerable when we intentionally praise God and give thanks instead of welcoming our feelings to take root in our hearts without examining them against scripture (Hebrews 4:12, 2 Timothy 3:16, 1 Thessalonians 2:19, 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Thessalonians 5:8-11, 2 Thessalonians 2:2, 16-17). We can't choose or control many things in our lives, and our strength to fight or change what's wrong is limited. While we can't fix all our problems or avoid the damage caused by them, we can choose how we react. Even if we're in pain, God's promises, His love for us, His sovereignty, and goodness remain as true and powerful as when we're happy and well, so we have the opportunity to choose to be thankful and praise God for His faithfulness and our hope of heaven (Romans 8:35-39, 2 Timothy 2:13, Hebrews 6:18, Hebrews 13:8, James 1:17). When we are weak in the flesh we can still fight the control evil tries to gain over our souls and claim God’s strength through praising Him in the midst of our pain (2 Corinthians 12:10, Romans 12:21). Next time you're hurting or afraid, measure your feelings against scriptures about your situation, then pour out your prayers and cast all your cares on God your Father. Surrender it all to Him, thank Him, and praise Him. Put your heart into it as much as you can. When you do this, your problems probably won't disappear for now, but your choice to obey God and acknowledge who He is changes your heart, and brings you closer to a time and place where everything will be alright again, once and for all.