Be Joyous, No Matter What!
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other….’ (Ecclesiastes 7:14a); ‘(7) The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him, (8) but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh; he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.’ (Nahum 1:7-8)
God promises joy, not happiness; joy is contentment within the facts of the circumstances one finds themselves in. Paul was joyful while in prison facing death, he likely was not happy but he was content with where he was, knowing that God’s plan for him was part of this. Joseph was joyful while captive in Egypt, his circumstance was a bit different than Paul’s but he found that God’s plan did not always bring happiness, but did bring him contentment.
Both Paul and Joseph, though, knew God supplies both good and bad times for all people. We have good memories with loved ones, we also have not-so-good memories with them as well; as Solomon writes in Ecclesiastes, though, when we find ourselves in happy times, be happy and enjoy those moments. When the bad times do come, don’t lament but know that God is in control and maintain joy in the fact that the Lord is with us.
We have had years of little direct hurricane activity here in Southwest Florida; some close calls but nothing of great significance between Charley in 2004 until Ian in 2022; an 18-year period of ‘meh’ storm-wise while others (New Orleans, Houston) got hit hard. Did God ‘smite’ them when we were spared? No, and He did not ‘smite’ us in 2022 while sparing them. We see in Nahum’s account that God is good to those who follow Him, and cares for His people. Nahum then speaks of the destruction of Nineveh, the capital of Assyria and enemy of Israel. Yet we know there were those in Nineveh who followed God after Jonah’s ‘revival’ there – including Nahum, who lived and died in what is now northern Iraq roughly 100-130 years after Jonah’s evangelism in the area.
God did not necessarily spare His people from the destruction of Nineveh, but He did know that if they were indeed followers of Him they would be content knowing that God’s will was being fulfilled, that their joy came in knowing that God loved them and would take care of them in an eternal sense, that the greater good was being accomplished in the midst of their turmoil.
I mentioned before that as much destruction that Ian caused (it was bad, could have been worse, but was still devastating in terms of its breadth), it was also a blessing; the people who came to Christ, the people who got to experience the love of Christ through the efforts of Florida Baptist Disaster Relief, MBC, and other churches in the area, the helping of neighbors by other neighbors, and much more. We are facing storms, all of which God knows about and are part of His plan. The Lord’s plan, whether we like it or not, is something we have to accept; not always in happiness, but always in joy. Just know that God is in control, and His plan is also to do what is best for us in the long, eternal, run.
