Hey Friends!
The words “joy” and “rejoice” appear in the book of Philippians more than a dozen times. Perhaps then, before we move on, we need to take the time to define joy and rejoice. Webster defines them as follows:
joy – a feeling of great pleasure and happiness
rejoice – feel or show great joy or delight
Immediately we run into a problem. Paul is calling us to rejoice in the midst of suffering and find joy in the middle of painful circumstances. Based on the official definitions of these words, this would be impossible. We cannot experience a feeling of great pleasure and happiness while we are facing the death of a loved one, the betrayal of a friend, the agony of a hurting child, the disappointment of a job loss or the anxiety of a national pandemic. We cannot rejoice as tens of thousands die at the hands of a virus, cherished events get canceled and everything that we have ever known gets turned on its head. Not only does this seem like a ridiculous directive, it actually seems cruel. What is Paul saying here? What is the Lord commanding?
As is so often true, we have to stop accepting the world’s standard and ask the Lord to give us His supernatural perspective.
“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will” (Romans 12:2).
This time, when we are set apart from the world, provides us the perfect opportunity to allow the Lord to transform our minds. We can stop passively accepting what the world tells us is true and begin actively searching the Scriptures, crying out to God and allowing Him to transform our minds, hearts, and lives.
So…let’s dig into the Biblical definition of joy and the act of rejoicing.
Rick Warren offers this:
“Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be alright, and the determined choice to praise God in every situation”
This is a beautiful definition and I believe it to be true. However, let’s hold it up to the Word of God to test its validity.
– “That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
-“You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance”(Psalm 32:7).
-“So that I may come to you with joy, by God’s will, and in your company be refreshed” (Romans 15:32).
-“Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
It certainly appears that, according to the Word of God, joy is a settled assurance, a quiet confidence and a determined choice to praise God in every situation. And while that is true, I now have to wonder, how? How do we have this assurance, confidence and determination? I am acutely aware that I cannot do it in my own strength.
This is where our Biblical definition of the word rejoice comes into play:
rejoice- to give joy to; to gladden
Did you catch the difference? While the secular definition calls us to show great joy or delight, the Biblical definition explains that we are given joy. We cannot conjure up joy, we simply receive it as a gift.
Let’s verify this theory with the Word of God.
-“When anxiety was great within me,
your consolation brought me joy”(Psalm 94:19).
-“You make known to me the path of life;
you will fill me with joy in your presence,
with eternal pleasures at your right hand”(Psalm 16:11).
“I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete“(John 15:11).
What a relief! We are not responsible for making ourselves joyful! We are only called to come into the presence of the One who can. We are free to experience all emotions, grief as well as happiness. Jesus modeled this for us when He wept over Lazarus. Even more so, we are never called to rejoice because of the circumstances. We are instead called to “give thanks in all circumstances.”
We cry out to God in our pain, our disappointment, our anxiety, and our agony. And He, in turn, gives us “a peace that passes understanding”, “new mercies in the morning” and “turns our mourning into dancing.”
There is no pressure to feel happy this week. Just sit with the Lord and be honest about where you are. He will meet you there, bind up your broken heart and give you the gift of His supernatural joy.
This week’s reading:
04/20-04/22: Philippians 1:27-29
04/22-04/24: Philippians 2:1-11
I will have some questions for your reflection on Wednesday. Please be in touch anytime by commenting or emailing women@jfbc.org!
Love you all!
Hugs!
Kinsee
