Tag Joy

Be Glad for Today

Todd R 4 Comments

Fellow travelers,

While I don’t know how most of my readers will spend their day today, and I’m even uncertain about what I’ll do today, there’s one thing about today I do know:

“This is the day that the LORD has made;
            let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24

Today, we may have activities and responsibilities we didn’t choose, but this is the day we have.  We don’t have control over things we’d like to control, but this is the day we have.

Today, we have no other day but this one, and it is from the Lord.  It is a good day because it is given to us by Him.  If He is good, it is good.

Today, “This is the day that the LORD has made;
            let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24

Rejoice in this day!

“There is a vital objection to the advice merely to grin and bear it. The objection is that if you merely bear it, you do not grin.” – GK Chesterton

Make a Joyful Noise: Participating in the Psalms

Todd R 2 Comments
Photo by Adam Winger on Unsplash

When reading the Psalms we should keep in mind that the writers aren’t just trying to teach us about God, but they are trying to share their experience of Him.  Some Psalms give us instructions like “sing to the LORD a new song” in Psalm 96.  Psalm 100 is “A Psalm for giving thanks,” and like Psalm 96, spells out ideas for doing it.  Today will focus on the first three verses, and tomorrow on the last 2.

Psalm 100 begins with:

“A Psalm for giving thanks.

Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth!
Serve the LORD with gladness!
            Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the LORD, he is God!
            It is he who made us, and we are his;
            we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”

First, the Psalmist wants the whole earth to make a joyful noise, but notes that singing and making a joyful noise are not the only part of giving thanks.  We are encouraged to thank God by serving Him, not reluctantly, but to serve with the same gladness we have when we sing in worship.

The third verse reads like a list of things to be thankful for.  When we feel like there’s nothing to be thankful for, or no motivation to serve, consider:

“Know that the LORD, he is God!” – Our Lord is not powerless, He is God!
“It is he who made us, and we are his” – We are not accidents of a mindless nature, we are His!
“We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture” – We do not have to wander aimlessly through life, not knowing where we are going, we belong to a flock and our Shepherd provides us pasture! 

Take a moment and ask Him how you might participate in the Psalms, carrying these instructions into your daily circumstances.

Thanksgiving is Good and Fitting

Todd R 1 Comment

Since 1942, the United States have celebrated a holiday for Thanksgiving on the fourth Thursday of every November.  For Christians the holiday is a time to remember the source of their blessings, regardless of how large or small those blessings seem.  In Ecclesiastes 5:18-19, the Preacher recommends celebrating and enjoying our material things, and recognizing God as the Giver of them all, including the work needed to produce and prepare them:

“Behold, what I have seen to be good and fitting is to eat and drink and find enjoyment in all the toil with which one toils under the sun the few days of his life that God has given him, for this is his lot. Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil—this is the gift of God.”

Photo by Pro Church Media on Unsplash

However, as the Preacher wrote, even those with good jobs and plentiful possessions may find it difficult to truly enjoy them.  It is “good and fitting”, but it is also “the gift of God” to find joy in the now instead of chasing things we don’t already have.  It does not come naturally.

For many, time and events make each Thanksgiving different.  The company around the table may have changed.  The meal may be different.  The means of providing the meal may be different.  The familiarity of tradition may have been shaken by the pandemic and other circumstances.  Much has changed, and much will change.

Therefore, focus on the Giver behind the gifts you have, and seek contentment with thankfulness that He has provided everything you need. For now, and in eternity.  You are in good company.

On Spiritual Mood Swings

Todd R 2 Comments
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash

Life is often a battle with inconsistency.  We go from feeling good about our situations and God’s favor, to feeling like we are in a spiritual desert, and back again like a pendulum.  Knowing this, God provides verses like Psalm 126:4-6, which says:

“Restore our fortunes, O LORD,
            like streams in the Negeb!
Those who sow in tears
            shall reap with shouts of joy!
He who goes out weeping,
            bearing the seed for sowing,
shall come home with shouts of joy,
            bringing his sheaves with him.”

The metaphor is a comparison to the south of Israel, which has a very dry climate, yet experiences flooding in a rainstorm.  The Negeb also is mentioned in the story of Caleb and his daughter Achsah.  Her inherited land was in the infertile Negeb, and she asks him also for springs of water, which he gives her.[1]

Like Achsah’s father Caleb, our Father God also provides for us in our seasons of trouble.  Here, the Psalmist compares tears to seeds, reminding us that in the dry times as well as the times of overflowing blessing, God is with us, using those circumstances.  Our current loss is future gain, and our current time of suffering is bound and measured by God’s will, like the Babylonian exile was measured at 70 years[2] and the year of Jubilee came after every 49 years[3].  After our time, we will enter His rest and rejoice eternally.

In this life we may experience spiritual and emotional extremes, like drought and flood in the desert.  Don’t overreact to the pendulum swing but count your tears as seeds.  Pray that He will restore your fortunes and thank Him that our seasons are in His hands.

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” – Matthew 5:4

[1] Joshua 15:18-19
[2] Daniel 9:2, 9:24
[3] Leviticus 25:8

Do You Do Well to Be Angry?

Todd R 3 Comments

The prophet Jonah was angry after God’s grace came to the Gentile city of Nineveh, when they repented and avoided disaster:

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.’ And the LORD said, ‘Do you do well to be angry?’” – Jonah 4:1-4

Jonah claimed to know God’s character, but also wanted to determine who else could know God and who couldn’t, who gets “justice” and who doesn’t, preventing him from rejoicing in the salvation of Nineveh.

Do we do well to be angry, or do we prefer joy in knowing the God who is sovereign knows what He’s doing? Be glad in the salvation of God, even if He gives it to someone you don’t think deserves it. He knows better.