For a melancholy personality, it is hard to see the good in life, to view the “glass as half-full” rather than “half-empty,” to maintain a joyful attitude, or to find something positive on which to focus. However, God’s Word encourages us to rejoice all the time (Philippians 4:4-8). This often feels unequivocally impossible to do.
As a melancholy myself, I heard the Lord’s direction for the only solution to this challenge. He instructed me that rejoicing in no way denotes happiness. Our circumstances may be horrid, irritating, or depressing and we cannot be happy about them. However, with God’s Spirit abiding within us, we can always find His joy in everything.
We can even celebrate the trials, troubles, and stresses of life. In fact, it is “amazing what praising will do for us.” We rejoice in the Lord’s presence within us, guidance for us through tribulation, and His everlasting love for us despite our distracting thoughts (Mark 9:23-24).
Gratitude is the key to the ability to always rejoice. We celebrate God’s love that He had for us even while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). We are amazed at His forgiveness of our sins, our position in His family as His adopted children (Ephesians 1:5), and His continual provision and protection in our life (Philippians 4:19).
This allows us to hear God’s wisdom about our issues, to accept His encouragement for our victories, to access His strength to live out our faith in Him, and to stand firm on the Rock of Christ in our times of troubles and trials (1 Peter 5:9). We can follow the examples of Saints in God’s Word to feel joy in our struggles and persecution (Philippians 4:13).
When we realize that God plants a seed for a miracle in every trial, we can endure hardships with joy and faith for the present moment as well as the future (Philippians 4:11-12). We surrender to Him our human penchant to live in constant anxiety, and we reveal our true feelings to God in prayer, which allows us to abide in His peace (Philippians 4:6-7).
Prayer:
Father God, we thank You for Your continual showers of blessings on Your children. We realize this has nothing to do with the strength of our faith in You, but simply comes from Your love and care for Your children. Teach us to learn contentment in Your comfort and provision regardless of our circumstances (Philippians 4:11-12), and to rejoice in praises to You for Your presence in our life (Philippians 4:4).
This position of praise and gratitude makes no sense to the human mind because it is contrary to every human feeling that threatens to consume us. Yet, remind us that gratitude helps us to see past our anger, weariness, depression, confusion, and discouragement right into Your heart of love for us all, even when we were still living in sin (Romans 5:8). We bless Your holy name and give You all our praise and thanksgiving.
Thoughts for the Day:
Rejoicing in all our circumstances aids us in our spiritual growth, wisdom, and discernment, which allows us to avoid many trials that we create by our own misguided choices. Walking by the direction of God’s Spirit each moment of the day keeps us connected to His strength to face the un-faceable trials that life throws at us every day.
- Philippians 4:4-8
