Rejoice! Rejoice!

A lot of Christians may remember the old folky and cheesy praise song:

Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice. (x2)
Rejoice, Rejoice, and again I say Rejoice. (x2)
Rejoice in the Lord always and again I say Rejoice. (x1)

The tune is so corny that even today when I hear it I dread singing it. Really, how ignorant am I, to have this tune distract me from the real message of the song (sometimes tunes do no justice to lyrics in some songs). There is so much here in this phrase that one cannot help but actually rejoice.

The verse is found in Philippians 4:4 and reads, "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" The Epistle to the Philippians is filled with these exhortations of joy for the church in Philippi. (1:4-5; 2:17-18; 3:1) So a reader could not ignore this recurring theme. Secondly, Paul is a perfect example of this attitude since on his first visit to Philippi he was singing praises while imprisoned. (Acts 16:25) And the most amazing thing about this is that Paul is in prison again, writing this letter to their church, and his attitude remains to be that of rejoicing. (1:12-14)

D. A. Carson in his book Basics for Believers (Baker, 1996) notices two details about this verse.
The first detail is that Paul is interested in the grounds for rejoicing, and that is God. The most important and central ground for our rejoicing must be God, and not in our circumstances.

Carson states:

"If our joy derives primarily from our circumstances, then when our circumstances change, we will be miserable. Our delight must be in the Lord himself. That is what enables us to live with joy above our circumstances."

We so often praise God for what he had done for our lives, and seek pleasure and delight in him when things are going well. This is not wrong, and we are to have thanksgiving in our hearts, especially when we pray (4:6). But how do we respond to God when heartache comes our way.

One day I met this very interesting fellow while I was sitting in a cafeteria at my school. He began talking to me and halfway through that conversation I asked him if he believed in God. He replied, "sometimes". I quickly requested him to elaborate. He told me that when everything is good, and everything seems to be turning out for his benefit or pleasure, he believes in God. When circumstances and events in his life are garbage and it appears to be sorrowful he does not believe in God. He did not appear to be a professing believer in Christ, and what that conversation revealed to me was how little he viewed God. Likewise, we Christians can do the same thing.

Rather than seeing God as the sole reason for rejoicing, we let circumstances dictate when we praise God. In order to conquer trial and adversities, we need to realize our joy is found within God and not within in the events of our lives. We expect God to answer to our every desire making us happy to our own passions, and we praise God when these are fulfilled. When disaster strikes, we are quick to raise our fists to heaven in anger. We have this tiny view of God that he allows sorrows to happen for no apparent reason. Instead, we need to see God as the source for all and ever-lasting joy. Perhaps, as Carson proposes, this is why God allows pain to come into our lives, to learn this valuable lesson.

Secondly, this verse tells us when and how long we are to rejoice, simply put, always! And the reason why we can rejoice in the Lord always, because our grounds for rejoicing is unchanging. God does not change, he is infinite, and since this is the God we rejoice in, then there can never be a situation for rejoicing to cease. It is a command, and I believe we need to strive for this. To learn a rejoicing heart, such that when turmoil arises, even though sorrow and tears are rightly appropriate, we can and must rejoice, because we are rejoicing in God.

This has huge ramifications within one's own life. Every single person in this world knows that life is not perfect, pain and sorrow is seen all around. One cannot turn to the news and not listen for too long without hearing some heart-wrenching story about an innocent child being hurt, or several people dying in a bombing. Pain even strikes closer to home with family problems, maybe financial problems, and even one's own self pity or depression. But having a proper understanding of rejoicing can change all this. Our sorrow can turn to praise, our tears of pain into tears of joy, our cries of anger to cries of thanksgiving. Why? Because we rejoice in God. The same God who sent his Son to die for our sins so that we may live.

So back to the cheesy song. Even though the tune does not appeal to me, what should is the meaning of the song. How deep and profound this truth that we are to joy in the Lord and that He is the source of our joy. It is our duty as Christians to display to this world the joy that is supposed to reign so supremely in our hearts.

(P.S. Here is a music video to a song called "You Are My Joy" by David Crowder* Band)