byHave you ever experienced that feeling where you are very low, but then you do not want to look like your problem? Sometimes, you may sit with a task for hours trying to figure it out, but to your dismay, you aren’t getting anywhere. You cannot take out the anger on your mates or your superior, so you just silently battle with anger and depression in your head. What about one of those days when you get promoted, get good grades, or secure a major deal? You are all smiles, and you find contentment in your heart. Now the question is, in which one of these two situations should you rejoice? The second one, right? The Bible has the right answer as to when to rejoice. Let us delve right into it.
What does the word “rejoice” mean?
“Rejoice” originates from an Old French word “rejoir”. The prefix “re” (which means “again” or “intensively”) is added to “joir” (which means “to be glad”) to mean “to be glad again” or “to be intensively glad”. A person who rejoices is not one who is devoid of joy or gladness but one who is already glad but intensifies their gladness upon a change in circumstance. In essence, rejoicing is a reaction where a person intensifies their gladness based on the circumstance they find themselves in or the happenings in their lives.
When must one rejoice?
As human as we are, it is natural only to rejoice when we find ourselves in pleasant circumstances and when the happenings in our lives or even the lives of our loved ones are good. However, a Christian is not just a natural person; a Christian has the spiritual life, the Zoe Life. For this reason, we do not act naturally by being glad only when we see things going our way, but we act spiritually by always being glad.
The Bible says in Romans 8:28 that “…all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose”. Whether good or bad, whatever happens, happens for your good. For this reason, you must rejoice always. You must be glad when you wake up in the morning to no bank alert, no response from the organisation you are seeking a job from, or a persisting problem. Why? “This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it” (Psalm 118:24).
The fact that God made a new day is worth being glad about. In the twelfth chapter of the second book of Samuel, from the first to the twenty-fourth verse, we see how King David’s servants expected him to rejoice when the child was alive and rather mourn when the child died. However, because he knew God more intimately, He knew he had to rejoice, whether in good times or bad.
How do you rejoice?
One must first be glad. Be glad about the day; be glad about your life, and be glad that God, the most powerful being in the universe, is loving and just and not evil. After being already glad, as a prayerful Christian, the next thing to do is to have Romans 8:28 always in your consciousness. Declare the Word onto your day, week, month, and life. When you are conscious of this, you become gladder as things happen, keeping in mind that the things that happen in your life do not happen to you but for you.
If you learn about your indefinite suspension before arriving at work, choose to find a reason to feel thankful. Rejoice. In a situation where your car breaks down in the middle of Lakeland Drive in Jackson, rejoice. If you committed your day into God’s hands and made positive declarations about your day, but these things still happened, rejoice. For all you know, if that car had not broken down, you could have been involved in a fatal accident. Or if you weren’t suspended, you could have been innocently involved in causing financial loss to the organisation.
God sees ahead, and He makes all things work for our good. Be glad for what He has done, what He is doing, and what He will do. It is not as easy as it sounds; the article would be incomplete if I didn’t state that. However, the difficulty in Christianity is limited to human strength. Once Christ is in your boat, you can smile at the storm. Amen!
In conclusion, being glad again is “rejoicing”. There is no better time to rejoice than to rejoice always. Once you are alive and things come your way, rejoice. It may not be easy for you to follow through, but remember, it is easy for God, and He will help you. God is working all things together for your good.
