The Book of Joy
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (NRSV)
Can I ask you to set aside for a moment, in all that you have going on in your life right now – the pressures, the responsibilities, the struggles, the things you’ve been churning over in your mind – and come with me on a journey into your imagination?
I want you to imagine that in this moment you can be filled with a joy that simply can’t be put into words. Yeah, that’s not easy because the realities confronting you just now, the things that you wouldn’t have chosen for yourself, seem to block your ability to experience joy, even just to imagine it.
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Philippians is known as the book of joy in the Bible. Yet he wrote it in a dank, Roman dungeon on death row, chained to a guard. Even so, he was still able to say to his friends in Philippi:
Philippians 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. (NRSV)
Why? How? Because when God is your source of joy … listen to this, take this in please … your circumstances are not what determines your joy. That joy is a gift from God. It never leaves you.
And when all of a sudden you get that feeling that you’re falling, that your circumstances are overwhelming you, all you need to do is to go to God, spend a few minutes with Him, consciously in His Presence, and His joy – not yours, not the world’s, His joy! – will overwhelm you in a way that words can’t describe.
Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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