Again I Will Say, Rejoice!

A Colloquy On Rejoicing

Remember, O My Soul,
It is thy duty and privilege to rejoice in God:
He requires it of thee for all his favours of grace.
Rejoice then in the Giver and his goodness,
Be happy in him, O my heart, and in nothing but God,
for whatever a man trusts in,
from that he expects happiness.

He who is the ground of thy faith
should be the substance of thy joy.

Whence then come heaviness and dejection,
when joy is sown in thee,
promised by the Father,
bestowed by the Son,
inwrought by the Holy Spirit,
thine by grace,
thy birthright in believing?

Art thou seeking to rejoice in thyself
from an evil motive of pride and self-reputation? Thou hast nothing of thine own but sin,
nothing to move God to be gracious,
or to continue his grace towards thee. If thou forget this thou wilt lose thy joy.

Art thou grieving under a sense of indwelling sin? Let godly sorrow work repentance,
as the true spirit which the Lord blesses,
and which creates fullest joy; Sorrow for self opens rejoicing in God,
Self-loathing draws down divine delights.
Hast thou sought joys in some creature comfort?
Look not below God for happiness;
fall not asleep in Delilah’s lap.
Let God be all in all to thee, and joy in the fountain that is always full.

I present to you yet another wake-up call I found in the book, The Valley of Vision. This is not a prayer, but  a reminder from the author to himself. A colloquy is defined as a conversation, and this is a conversation between the author and himself. He is reminding himself of something I think we all need to be reminded of occasionally.

One of my favorite passages in the Bible is Philippians 4:4-9. Philippians 4:4 is my favorite verse. It's not long or drawn out, and it doesn't require any interpretation. We are told to rejoice in the Lord, and in case we didn't get it, Paul says it again: rejoice. You wouldn't think that's something we need to be reminded of, but I think it is.

At a Bible study I attended this past year, we were asked this question at one point: Are we on a quest for truth or a quest for happiness? We didn't have to think about it very long. The Declaration of Independence says that among the rights given to us by God are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Americans have a strong belief in that, and I think that many other people subconsciously agree at least with the third part. Everyone should have the right to pursue happiness.

But there are a few issues within that topic. The first one we come to is this: We have the right to pursue happiness, but do we have the right to be happy? If that's the case, we better do something about it. There are a lot of incredibly unhappy people. However, all of those unhappy people have the right to pursue happiness.

So we can all pursue happiness, and most of us do. Different people look for different things to make them happy, and most people eventually find that thing that will make them happy. It may be your family or your friends; maybe it's money or some tangible item. Maybe it's the little things in life like a beautiful sunrise or a cool breeze. But there's always this nagging problem: All of those things are things that will eventually fade away. What do you do then? For lots of people, the next step is to find a new source of happiness, but it always ends the same way. It's always temporary.

This reminds me of the hedonistic paradox: if we seek happiness and don't find it, we become frustrated. But if we seek happiness and find it, we become bored. This explains why it makes more sense to seek joy.

People like to say happiness and joy are synonymous, but I think differently. Happiness is found in the things I mentioned above, and it doesn't last. But joy, pure and authentic, is found in the only infinite one in the world: God. Think about it. Remember a time when you felt truly joyful, and think about why. Every moment of true joy in every person's life can be traced back to God.

So when Paul says rejoice always, it's not such a difficult thing to do. The wonderful thing about rejoicing in the Lord is that, as Romans 11:36 says, from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. As the author says, all that's ours is our sin. So when you look at the sunrise that makes you happy, think of the Lord and rejoice. When you're with the friends you love, rejoice. When life seems okay, rejoice. In suffering and in tribulation, rejoice. In all things, rejoice.

And in case you still don't get it, again I will say, rejoice!

The Valley of Vision

Lord, high and holy, meek and lowly,

Thou has brought me to the valley of vision,

   where I live in the depths but see thee in the heights;

   hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold thy glory.

Let me learn by paradox

   that the way down is the way up,

   that to be low is to be high,

   that the broken heart is the healed heart,

   that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,

   that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,

   that to have nothing is to possess all,

   that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,

   that to give is to receive,

   that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen from deepest wells,

   and the deeper the wells the brighter thy stars shine;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,

   Thy life in my death,

   thy joy in my sorrow,

   thy grace in my sin,

   thy riches in my poverty

   thy glory in my valley.

What you just read is a puritan prayer, The Valley of Vision. You can find it, among others, in the book by the same name. When I first started reading the book, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. My fear was that the wording would be confusing, or that I might not understand what the author was saying, or that maybe the issues in the prayers of the 1600s would be outdated and insignificant in this day in age. I was, as you might have guessed, pleasantly surprised.

The topic of this prayer is not only something that I have personally experienced, but it is also something I believe we all come across. Disagree if you will, but I think that everyone reaches a valley at some point in their life. Some people may find themselves there more than once, and some people's valleys may be a bit deeper. But if you say that as far as life goes, you've never reached a valley, I would tell you that either you will, or that you have and just don't really see it that way. I've even known people that were in a valley and just didn't realize it.

I think that a valley can be just about anything. It could be a slap in the face from reality, a confidence issue, a loss, a sin in your life, or anything else you can think of. You might be going through physical pain, or maybe you're having emotional or spiritual problems. We don't all go through the same things, and we each have our difficulties.

If you read my last post, you know that I believe that we are not in control of our lives. So what do we do when we reach this valley? So many people try to take control. They might look down and take it step by step, or they might look ahead just a little bit and aim to just keep on until they get out. But there's one thing people don't often do, and the author of this prayer had it figured out. When you look up, what are you expecting?

For those of you who have been to a place of mountains and valleys, you know that the best view of things is from the top. When you get down to the bottom, you don't have such a good view. All you can see is what is right above you. So this man was saying that he was in one of life's metaphorical valleys, and he looked up and saw nothing above him but God in the heights.

He goes on to talk about learning in paradox (which is probably a topic for another blog post) and he explains himself rather well. Then he says that in the deepest wells in the daytime, stars can be seen. And the deeper the wells, the brighter the stars shine. That's a strange thought, but again he is saying that even in the depth of his situation, God's glory is radiant and plain for all to see. He continues by asking God that what he goes through in his life would bring the opposite from God, and ends it by asking to find God's glory in his valley.

Shouldn't we be asking for the same thing? It seems that every time we find ourselves in a tough situation, we instantly assume God will get us out of it as soon as we ask. That's not always true, and we don't always know exactly why. 2 Corinthians 7-10 talks about something that happened to Paul. He was given a thorn, and it was obviously painful. He asked God to take it away three times, but God doesn't do it. Finally, God says in 2 Corinthians 12:9 that his grace is sufficient. This helps Paul to understand that even though he's not having the most pleasant time, God is being glorified through his situation. All he had to do was look up.

So the next time you find yourself going through one of life's valleys and you ask God to help you out of it, keep in mind that whatever God does, he's receiving the glory. And if you forget that, just remember to look up from your valley: the Valley of Vision.

Establishes Means Establishes

Jonah was a prophet. God literally spoke to him. He and God talked to each other. Do you ever wonder what on earth he was thinking when he decided he could run from God?

The God he spoke to was omnipresent. You can't run away from someone that's everywhere. Why did he even try? Lately I've noticed something. Regardless of who the target audience is, pop culture seems to have one incredibly important message for us. So many new-age movies and television shows find it incredibly important that we understand that we are in control of our lives. William Ernest Henley ended his famous poem, Invictus, by saying, "I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul."

That sounds so inspirational and moving. Everyone likes the sound of that at first. But then we start to think about it. Do I really control my fate? The idea in and of itself is absolutely ridiculous. You don't tell your loved ones when the time is right for them to pass away. You don't tell your banker how much money you should have. You don't tell the world what you will do with your life. Sure, we can dream. We can wish. You can want something with all of your heart. You can work your life away trying to reach that goal. That's wonderful, and I respect you for working towards your goal. But you don't decide if and when you're going to get there.

As I said, God gives and takes away (Job 1). You can work for things you want and dream about things you don't have, but don't forget where they came from. You aren't entitled to a great life. God gave you everything you have. He always has and always will have a perfect and sovereign plan for each and every one of us. I said a long time ago that taking matters into your own hands won't usually work out. Jonah tried to get away from God, but he didn't get very far. In the end, God's will was done, just the way it is in our lives.

Proverbs 3:5 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." We need to accept the fact that we truly are not in control. God will do what God will do, and we need to understand that as much as we hate to admit it, God is right and we are wrong. And what we want isn't always what we need. It's hard to accept. I for one certainly do not like to be wrong in my thoughts, words, or actions. But guess what? We aren't perfect.

I guess all I'm trying to say is that I don't agree with the popular message that we are in control. Our sovereign, omnipotent God is in control, and that definitely doesn't bother me. Sure, there will be times when I'll be disappointed that I don't get what I want. There will be times when I won't understand what's going on. But the Lord establishes my steps, and nothing could bring me more peace.

"The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps." -Proverbs 16:9

Is God A Vending Machine?

It's so easy to trust Christ when everything is falling apart, but what happens when everything seems okay?

Most people have been told at one point in their lives that when things get rough, they can fall on Jesus, metaphorically speaking. But why does it never occur to people to trust Jesus when things are easy? Doesn't it make more sense to assume God is at the center of the seemingly easy parts of our lives just as we assume He is of the hard parts? He is God, regardless of how life is going.
When things aren't going your way, what is your natural response? As a believer, your response is probably to bring your requests to God, trusting in His sovereign plan for you. And many of us know from experience that He may or may not answer these requests the way you hope He will. So when He doesn't, you keep persevering, knowing God is in control. But what do you do when He does?
Most often, we sort of forget that the reason we don't think we need to make time for God is because He's the reason we aren't in major trouble. He provides for our needs, and more often than not, we just don't remind ourselves that it was He, and not us.

Are we not all sinners? Have we forgotten that if not for Jesus we would all spend eternity separated from God? We need Jesus regardless of our earthly circumstances. I think the problem is that we focus too much on this life. In the craziness of the moment, we forget we have a lot more ahead of us than a few decades. So when things in this life seem perfect, though they never really are, we forget that if all you ever got from God was salvation through Jesus Christ, you would have much more than you deserve. You'd be too focused on how wrong things in your life are going to remember that. And then things start looking up, thanks to God, and you forget about Jesus again because life is great, so why worry about eternity?

God is not a vending machine. He's not your personal instant problem solver. God gives and takes away with His own perfect reasons. So rather than focus on what God is not doing for us when we aren't happy, we should start focusing on the fact that he gave us life in the first place, which we didn't deserve. And we should remember that we who are in Christ have an eternity with him. That alone should bring us a joy that we can't even contain. So let's rejoice in the Lord always. Let's share the joy with everyone. Let's remember that Jesus is all we need and not worry about anything else. Regardless of our circumstances and our feelings, let's remember to trust Christ in everything.
"Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock." -Isaiah 26:4