“Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.”

Philippians 4:4

Have you ever thought about this verse and how it doesn’t just say rejoice in the Lord? It says to rejoice in the Lord always.

The other night, I was in my room again and I was feeling sad. It was Easter and it was another Easter I had to celebrate alone, without him. I saw post after post of all those I know sharing about this being their first Easter together as a couple. It wasn’t long before I found myself thinking about him and crying out to God to comfort me. So I did that Bible thing where you pray for God to bring you the right passage in the Bible and then randomly open up the Bible.

I opened up to a random chapter in Ezekial. I was very skeptical but still decided to give it a read. And nope, it wasn’t very helpful. I tried again and opened up to Psalm 116. This Psalm was actually very encouraging and relatable so spend some time reading it and meditating on it a bit. But what I really needed came after I finished reading in my Bible. I picked up a small book I have full of prayers. My hope is to read one of the prayers in the book each night before going to bed. Well, the prayer that I read was the “Ode to Joy” poem which was made into a familiar hymn. What’s funny is that I instantly felt the urge to not read this prayer. A call to be joyful was the last thing I wanted to read about and I felt the tension in my spirit. But as I read it the conviction began to set in. This prayer was just the reminder I needed that there is always so much I can be joyful in. I want to bed with a prayer to be more joyful in the Lord.

And if that wasn’t enough of a reminder to me, the next morning I read Philippians 4 where Paul tells us to rejoice always. I just have to say here, as I know I’ve said many times before, God is just so good to me in all the ways He reminds me of His goodness.

Here is the truth that I realized; we can rejoice in the Lord always because our God is faithful to us and He is unchanging in all that He does. Our circumstances change, but God never does. If our rejoicing is based on our circumstances it’s impossible for us to always find joy and keep that joy, because our life is always changing. But when our rejoicing is in the Lord, we always have reason to be joyful. We can be joyful because of all that God has done for us and all that God has promised us in His Word.

So today, I’m choosing to be joyful. I’m choosing to rejoice despite my circumstances and this season that seems to have no end. I will rejoice always in my God and I will rejoice in all that God has done for me. I will rejoice in the fact that God has always been with me, is still with me, and has a good plan for all of this in my life.