Rejoice In The Good Times – & The Bad Times, Too!

Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!’ (Philippians 4:4)

Little things in life make me happy. Waking up, and getting to my feet in a standing position (now that I’m a bit older and achy) has me rejoicing each day that I can do so that ‘The sun rose today, and so did I!’ I’m thankful that I have the ability to do this Word-of-the-Day blog as it usually either starts my day, sometimes a little later when necessary, in Godly thought. I pray that it gives those of you who read it encouragement and perhaps strikes a chord that fills a need for that day or for a particular issue in their lives. I pray it is as therapeutic for each of you as it is for me!

As with everyone else, life has it’s ups and downs. If one and their family members have good health, is financially stable, our home and automobile are in good shape, and has at least talking, friendly relationships with others – most of us would consider life at that moment to be ‘up’, or at least copacetic. We all experience those times when stuff starts acting up or goes ‘south’, like an illness or injury, or we get an unexpected bill that is rather big, we can start getting ‘down’. When it’s a combination of ‘down’ events; perhaps a car accident that can leave us injured and without a car, and in being out of work due to the injuries suffered, causes our bills to go unpaid – life can sometimes look a bit bleak.

Rejoicing in the Lord is great when everything is ‘up’ and life is going great, and it’s easy to get motivated.  We should also be motivated and rejoice in the Lord when things are down or looking bleak.  I often give points on why we should not be ‘BUT’ Christians.  ‘I’m a Christian, BUT I think <fill in the secular vice or action that is sinful here>’ means one is not being a Christian in worldview or actions, instead the ‘BUT’ Christian is actually a secularist following the popular, sinful, worldview. The vice or action can be drinking, smoking, supporting abortions, or believing some illegal activity is OK. If you and the world approves of it, but God doesn’t, you’re not on His side of the debate.

However, we can use the word ‘BUT’ constructively.  ‘I’m having a bad day, BUT I know my Lord is with me.’ is using the word ‘BUT’ properly.  No matter how things look – good or bad – know that the Lord is with you.  The Lord was with Job during his trials; He was with David when he stepped into the ring to face Goliath; He was there with Paul in prison; He was there with John when getting boiled in oil; He was there with Esther when confronting Laban, and the list goes on. 

We can see things in the immediacy of the moment, and cry out, ‘Lord, why me?  Why are things so difficult?’  But remember to rejoice in the Lord that you are able to experience such things.  There are many who wish they could own a car that could break down, or have an AC unit in their house that would give them problems.  The one thing to always be rejoiceful in is that we have a Lord who wants us to come to Him when we are in difficult situations.  When Paul wrote Philippians 4:4, it was for just such times as these!

The Lord may not take care of the situation as we would want, but He will take care of it as He sees we need it to be taken care of.  Samson had to be humbled by having his hair cut and his eyes plucked out before he acknowledged He needed God for strength; King David needed his firstborn with Bathsheba to die to be humbled so he would turn to God for forgiveness for murdering Uriah and stealing his wife.  God’s constructive criticism often seems harsh, and can be sometimes painful, but we can and should rejoice in its necessity.

Rejoice in our Lord Jesus, in the good times and the bad.  The one constant in the ups & downs in our lives that steadily increases and is always there is Jesus!  Rejoice!