Rejoice?

 “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.  Let your reasonableness be known to everyone.  The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:4-7)  Rejoicing is probably the furthest thing from my mind when I hear my friends are saying goodbye to their seven year old son.  I don’t feel like rejoicing when I tell my daughter her grandfather is battling cancer.  I don’t want to rejoice when my family is struggling miles away with COVID, but we can’t go help them because we must quarantine due to our exposure to them.  How can God ask us to rejoice when 2021 seems to be a worse continuation of 2020?  

Paul tells us how to rejoice in the following verses which say, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.  I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound...I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13).  Many people have used these verses out of context to say they can do anything.  What it’s really telling us is that we can endure whatever God brings our way through his strength.  God may give us more than we can handle, but it won’t be more than he can handle.  He will help us through it!

The call to rejoice does not mean that we can’t mourn the loss of those we love or other difficult circumstances.  Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 tells us that, “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die...a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…”  It is appropriate to mourn in circumstances that cause us grief.  Even Jesus wept when he joined the family of Lazarus mourning his death.  Jesus knew he would raise Lazarus from the dead, and yet he still wept with his sisters.  Christians are called to care for one another, which includes mourning with one another.  Romans 12:15 tells us, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”  However, when those we love are with Christ, it is a time for rejoicing as well.  Though we remain without them, they are in the presence of Jesus himself!  We can rejoice in knowing that they are free of pain and hurt and the curse of sin.  

My husband reminded me this week that we should look at the positives.  It is true that there is a lot to be negative about or to mourn over.  However, there is good in it too.  First, we know that what we are living is part of God’s plan, which is for our good and for his glory.  I can hug my kids close and be thankful for all of the extra family time we have had this past year.  We are currently quarantined, which means we have even more family time.  I can enjoy that we have extra time with my mom visiting, even though it is the result of positive COVID results.  I can be thankful for the happy and fun times that we have had with someone rather than mourn over their departure to heaven.  My son will be turning one in less than a week.  His first year of life has looked very different than most others.  He has traveled less, met fewer people, and experienced fewer things in his first year of life than his older sister.  However, he has had more time with family and developed stronger bonds with those he has met.  He may hate riding in the car, but he loves having friends visit our house!

I am still learning and struggling with rejoicing in all circumstances.  I am still a work in progress.  However, I know that God is good and his plan is the best.  Most of all, I know that one day Jesus will return.  The curse of sin and death will be broken.  The Apostle John tells us, in Revelation 21:1-4, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.  And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.  He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’”