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!