SUNDAY 13th
Philippians 4:4
NIV (v4) – ‘Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!’
ESV (v4) – ‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.’
I guess we have all heard the little joke, ‘Some mornings I wake up grumpy’ (pause) that then continues with ‘but some mornings I let her or him lie in!’ We all have what we call our bad hair days, we would actually rather not get up and face the world, or we have got up and something goes wrong that alters our mood, ‘she’s or he’s like a bear with a sore head today.’ We need something to lift us, cheer us and bring us out of whatever is causing the low mood. Let us be honest, we would rather spend our time with a happy person. Someone who is bright and bubbly, cheery and always ready to put a smile on your face and to be doing things that make us feel happy. This year has been one of those years that would cause even the jolliest of people to feel down, the virus itself, then the restrictions that come out of the virus, the risk to your job, unable to visit family or friends, worse still the risk of exposure and weeks in hospital and of dying. The list could go on. What is the antidote? Well it would be great if the vaccines they are preparing will be successful in protecting and wiping the virus out, it will be great to be able to live without the restrictions and have everything running back to normal again, it would be good . . . and we could continue to make a long list, but the problem is that once we have turned one corner there always seems to be something else that will hit like a ton of bricks and cause us to feel despondent again, to bring us low again.
Here in this chapter in Philippians Paul is bringing an antidote, ‘Rejoice in the Lord’, it may seem to be a bit of a cliché, to which we would reply, ‘you don’t know what I am going through’, ‘you try standing in my shoes’, ‘if only you knew what I am going through,’ ‘How can you tell me to rejoice?’ etc. Well the sure answer would be, No, Paul, I, or we may not know what you are going through, but there is one who does and his name is Jesus, and he has promised to be with us. Remember Paul was writing this letter from a prison cell, his circumstances were not exactly rosy nor pleasant, he certainly did not know what lay around the corner, would he be released or would he face death! Note what he says in verses 5-6 ‘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.’ These are our verses for tomorrow, but to just notice for today, ‘the Lord is at hand’.
Because the Lord is at hand, we can learn to rejoice in whatever our circumstances are for he is faithful and will never let us go. With whatever you or I are facing today or over the next week, we can face it knowing that the Lord is at hand, and therefore we can learn to rejoice, as Paul says ‘always’, not just when we feel like it! Remember the story of the disciples in the ship in the midst of the storm, they were terrified, forgetting at first that Jesus was in the ship with them, therefore also in the midst of the same storm with them, and when they remembered they awoke him with the statement, ‘Don’t you care that we are perishing’ of course he cared and the truth is because he was there they were not actually perishing! and he spoke and the storm became calm, prompting someone to eventually compose the children’s chorus, ‘with Christ in your vessel you can smile at the storm’, The disciples went into a state of fear, panic and maybe even anger, not realising as Paul says, ‘The Lord is at hand, be anxious about nothing.’ The presence of Jesus should encourage us to cheer and not fear, to rejoice and to be glad.
I am needing to learn as well, the best way to start the day is by rejoicing, we can easily start a day with all the negatives rather than concentrating on the positives, I recall one of the Gaither videos, (can’t remember which) where one of the guests was asked how are you? To which he replied ‘I’m vertical and ventilating’ in other words he was grateful to be alive. It’s great to be alive, yes, our circumstances might not always be the best, but ‘Rejoice always’ be happy, be joy-filled and joyful, be jolly, for the Lord is at hand, he is with us ready to take us through whatever we are faced with.
This is not the first time that Paul had told the Philippians to rejoice, he has already said it in chapter 3:1, ‘Finally, my brothers, rejoice in the Lord.’ I hope the fact that it says ‘brothers’ doesn’t mean that Paul thinks that it is only the men who can be grumpy!