This morning I was reading again those well-known words of Paul in Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always! I will say it again, Rejoice!” Ridiculous, isn’t it? How on earth can you command someone to rejoice? Paul’s advice sounds a little like the cheap advice that’s dished out all around us. Smile! Be happy! Have a nice day!
Easy to say, hard to do… especially when your little world is crumbling around you. Retrenched, and four mouths to feed. Cancer, and it’s further advanced than they first thought. Divorce, and a ‘one flesh’ relationship is traumatically torn apart.
Who still dares… in such situations… to tell someone to smile? In such moments we feel strongly that the integrity of God’s good creation has been violated. Who wants to rejoice in such moments? ‘Far more appropriate in those moments to scream out one’s frustration and plead for the Restorer of all things to come do His renewing work.
Perhaps the apostle only meant us to rejoice when we are well and content. Or maybe he was talking about those special moments of worship when we count the blessings that we still enjoy in a fallen world.
Not so! The absurdity lies not in the call to rejoice but in the call to rejoice always. That implies an outlook in which it is never impossible to rejoice. But how? How does one do that when the business folds or the family falls apart? How does one do that when suddenly there is that empty place in a home?
In Scripture joy is an attitude and not a feeling. It isn’t dependant on circumstances. That’s why rejoicing can be commanded. Habakkuk knew that too: “Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vine, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food… yet I will rejoice in the Lord.”
Biblical joy is a decision of the will before it is an emotion of the heart. But that begs the question: In crises where does one find strength to turn one’s will in the direction of joy?
It’s easy to overlook Paul’s qualification that it is never just rejoicing in itself, or joy for its own sake. It is a rejoicing in the Lord. In other words, because we belong to our faithful Saviour with body and soul, in life and in death, we know that also our crises are lived out in relation to Jesus. Because of Him all things work together for our good. That alone makes it possible to rejoice always.
John Westendorp