I woke up a bit overwhelmed and sad this morning.  The mess in Afghanistan, the earthquake in Haiti, and the hurricane hitting New Orleans (again!) all weighed on my spirit.  Some of it is terrible!  Other things in my life have been simply disappointing.  But what do we do with all of it?

I’m tired, too.  I’m tired of the pandemic and the politics and the platitudes.  I would really like to see something good coming from all of this.  Oh, I do most of the time, but too often it seems good “in spite of,” rather than “because of.”  Even as I re-read that last sentence, I realize that there doesn’t seem to be a lot in this world that drives goodness, kindness, and love.  That motivation must come from somewhere else – from Someone Else.  Greed, ignorant selfishness, lack of respect (for self and/or others), and a whole host of lusts and indulgences crowd out gentleness, consideration, and generosity.

As I mentioned my burden to my beautiful wife, she reminded me of a passage that speaks to such a set of circumstances.  It is uniquely suited to those who follow Jesus, and not as much to others who have different faith or no faith at all.

Her favorite passage, Philippians 4:4-8, begins with a command.  “Rejoice in the Lord always.  I will say it again, rejoice!”

(Click here to read the entire passage)

Rejoice?  With all the chaos, confusion, and disaster?  Why in the world? 

Because we believe!  We believe that God is greater than the problems, literally.  We believe that the problems (no matter how out-sized they may be) are not even comparable to the One who created the entire universe.  And lest we let that immensity overwhelm us, we are reminded two verses later that He is small enough to inhabit a single person and grant them peace, no matter how downtrodden or beset by difficulty.  His peace will inhabit us when we pray with rejoicing and gratefulness.  When He says that all things will work together for the good of those of us who love Him and whom he has purposefully called, we trust it will be so (see Romans 8:28).  We may even end our prayer of thanks with the traditional “amen,” which originally meant “so be it” or “Let it be so!”  (I find it odd that we use it as almost a point of disconnect, when it was intended as a statement of faith.)

Paul reminds us that “… God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Tim. 1:7).  Rejoicing is probably the most powerful way of living out that kind of trust.  We don’t see the answer yet, but we know it will come. 

This is not a heedless optimism, like the man who was locked in a room full of horse dung and began digging, saying “There has to be a horse in here somewhere!”  It is trust born of a well-fed faith.  We have seen God show himself faithful in other difficulties, so we will trust him to do so again. 

At the very least, we have a hope beyond all this pain and suffering because we believe that Someone has already made a way beyond the grave, and returned to tell us about it.  Jesus offers us a hope and reason to rejoice that goes beyond any earthly difficulty we can encounter.

The real answer to my earlier question is that we can pray.  Too simplistic?  No more so than commanding people who are living in difficult times to rejoice.  If rejoicing and thanksgiving are the bases for our prayer, we will be less inclined to focus on the difficulties.  We will be more inclined to focus on the good things we can find along with the Author of that goodness.  We can also pray for all the circumstances, expecting God to respond and declaring our faith with our “So be it!”

If you can’t pray this way, then just ask God to help you find reasons to rejoice, and begin to look back at what good things you have seen God do in the past.  And if you can’t even ask for that, just look for His peace, if only for a moment.  God will meet you there.