Rejoice Always? In the midst of this?

How can we rejoice always? How can we experience joy when we live in such a hurting, broken world? How can we experience joy when we are such hurting, broken people? Where can joy be found in a world where 20 children, ages 6-7, and 6 adults can be gunned down in a school?  Where can joy be found in the midst of such evil?

How do we rejoice in the midst of: Adversity, Death, Distress, Grief, Hardship, Heartache, Oppression, Pain, Sickness, The Storm, Suffering, Terror, Tragedy, Trials, and Trouble? (Some of the top results of a google search of the phrase, "Joy in the midst of").

In between the two advents (Jesus' birth and Jesus' return) we live in the midst of so much that seeks to rob us of the Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace that is offered to us through the birth, life, death, and resurrection of our Savior. How in the world can we experience joy in the midst?

The Miriam Webster dictionary defines joy as the emotion evoked by well-being, success, or good fortune, or by the prospect of possessing what one desires; a state of happiness or felicity; a source or cause of delight.  But this makes it sound like joy is only experienced in the midst of happiness. And yet the Bible tells us to rejoice always. The Apostle Paul even urges us to rejoice in our suffering.

Intuitively and experientially we know that happiness and joy are not one and the same. Joy is more than and often other than happiness. There are things that make us happy, give us pleasures, that bring no joy. In fact, they can bring us tremendous grief and pain. And we also know that in the midst of sorrow and sadness we can experience joy. When someone we love dies, who has lived a long and blessed life, and who we are confident had a saving faith in Christ Jesus, we can rejoice even in the midst of the sorrow and sadness that we experience.

If sorrow and sadness, then, aren't the opposite of joy, what is? I'm not sure what the exact answer is, but I think that things like despair, depression, and maybe most importantly, distrusting God come pretty close.

In her book, Choose Joy: Because Happines Is Not Enough, Kay Warren defines joy this way:

“Joy is the settled assurance that God is in control of all the details of my life, the quiet confidence that ultimately everything is going to be all right, and the determined choice to praise God in all things.”

She goes on to write, "“Believing that ultimately everything is going to be all right takes into account … [all the pain and suffering and tragedy and heartache and brokenness] ... Choosing to believe that God is always working, knitting together the fragments of our lives, always in control of it all, means that life will work together for our good and his glory.” The bottom line is, joy can be experienced if we truly trust God, no matter what we are experiencing in the midst. But it isn't easy. At least for me.

While I'm not a big fan of Robert Schuller, I like what he says about joy: "Joy is not the absence of suffering.

It is the presence of God." And Paul Sailhamer writes, “Joy comes from knowing God is in control of our lives.”  For his part, Dr. Rober P. Martin writes that joy comes from our present possession of God's blessings [because of what God has done and is doing] and a well-grounded hope of possessing ALL that God has promised us in God's word.

Three of this week's lectionary texts have much to say about joy in the midst.

Philippians 4:4-7

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

We are to rejoice always! How? By taking all of our needs and concerns to God in prayer. And we are to do so with thanksgiving, knowing that God is able to do abundantly more than we ask. And what happens when we do? We are promised that the peace of God, which is far greater than anything we can comprehend, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. And so, as we mourn with those who lost love ones at Sandy Hook elementary school, we are called to rejoice, bringing our prayers and petitions for those who died and those who mourn, bringing our own fears and heartaches, to God in prayer. I don't know about you, but I confess that it is still hard to believe in God's transcendence and omnipotence in the midst of such tragedy. But where would we be without this hope? Where would we be without these words of promise?

Isaiah 12:2-6

Surely God is my salvation;

I will trust and not be afraid.

The Lord, the Lord himself,
is my strength and my defense;

he has become my salvation.”

With joy you will draw water

from the wells of salvation.

In that day you will say:

“Give praise to the Lord, proclaim his name;

make known among the nations what he has done,

and proclaim that his name is exalted.

Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;

let this be known to all the world.

Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,

for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”

We can experience joy in the midst, because God is our salvation. God is our strength and our defense. We can experience joy because we draw water, we draw life itself, from the wells of salvation. And God is our well of salvation. I am reminded that Jesus is the living water which has been offered to us.

Look at all that God has done and is doing! Consider all the blessings of God! Consider the birth of our Savior! Consider the salvation we are offered through his death and resurrection! Consider his promised return. And consider that in the midst we are not alone! God, the Holy One of Israel, is among us. As we sing, "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" let us remember that Jesus is God With Us. And let us not forget that Jesus has, as promised, sent the Holy Spirit to abide with us.

Zephaniah 3:14-17 (18-20)

Sing, Daughter Zion;

shout aloud, Israel!

Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,

Daughter Jerusalem!

The Lord has taken away your punishment,

he has turned back your enemy.

The Lord, the King of Israel, is with you;

never again will you fear any harm.

On that day

they will say to Jerusalem,

“Do not fear, Zion;

do not let your hands hang limp.

The Lord your God is with you,

the Mighty Warrior who saves.

He will take great delight in you;

in his love he will no longer rebuke you,

but will rejoice over you with singing.”

We can rejoice in the midst, because of what God has done, what God is doing, and what God has promised to do. God has taken away our punishment. God is with us in the midst and we need not fear any harm. We need not fear, we need not give up, why? Because God is with us in the midst! It is God, the Mighty Warrior, who saves.

And even when we feel unable to experience joy ... even when joy seems so completely absent ... God delights in us, God loves us and will no longer rebuke us, but will rejoice over us with singing. I believe that God can rejoice over us even now ... even now as we find ourselves in the midst ... because God knows the end of our story. God knows how he will deliver us, in this life or in the next, from all that seeks to rob us of joy.

Indeed, we also ought to remember that though we may often struggle to experience joy, the joy that we ought to experience is not "our" joy, but rather the joy of the Lord. In Nehemiah we are reminded that "the joy of the Lord is our strength." Whatever our circumstance, however difficult it is to experience joy, we need to remember that God is our strength and salvation.

If you find yourself in the midst, struggling to experience joy, know that God can rejoice over you because God knows the end of your story. These are easy words for me to write, but far harder words for me to cling to and believe. But I must, for without these words of promise, what hope is there?

I once read that "Some things are best learned in calm, others in storm." I wonder if the same might be said of joy. The joy that seems to come easiest is the joy experienced in calm. But maybe the most profound joy can be experienced in the storms of life. Maybe it is only in the midst that we can experience true joy, the joy of the Lord.

This all, yet again, takes me back to the fundamental question that I believe God asks each of us every day, at every moment. "Do you trust me?" You see, if we truly trust God we can rejoice in the midst, because God knows the end our story. But I confess, it isn't easy. It isn't always easy to trust God in the midst. And it certainly isn't easy to always be joyful.

Kay Warren writes that she once thought of life as consisting of waves of sorrow and joy. But she has come to think of life as a train track, with one rail being sorrow and one being joy. There may be sadness and sorrow at all times in the midst, but there also is joy. She urges us to choose the joy that we have been offered by God. She urges us to be assured that God is in control, no matter what the circumstance; to be confident that ultimately (maybe not as soon as we want, but ultimately) everything is going to be alright; and to choose to praise God regardless of what we are experiencing in the midst.

Jesus once told his disciples that they should "rejoice because their names are written in heaven." Now one could read these words as an escapist excuse to not experience the pain and sadness and sorrow in the midst. But I don't think this is at all what Jesus meant. In fact, Jesus was seeking to reorient his disciples' joy. Instead of rejoicing over the things we can accomplish in this world, instead of merely rejoicing over our present successes and happiness, we have something far greater to rejoice about: that our names are written in heaven!

There will come a time, we are told in the book of revelation, when all the pain and heartache and distress of life in the midst will be wiped away.

Revelation 21:3-4

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

“Look! God’s dwelling place

is now among the people,

and he will dwell with them.

They will be his people,

and God himself will be with them

and be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes.

There will be no more death

or mourning or crying or pain,

for the old order of things

has passed away.”

If you find yourself in the midst, as I do, finding it hard to rejoice, I urge you to cling to your faith in God. Seek to trust God with your past, present, and future. And even if you are unable to rejoice in the moment, know that God rejoices over you with singing, because God knows the end of your story. And know, that whether it is in this life or in the life to come, God will wipe away every tear, there will be no more death, or mourning or crying or pain.