Rejoice

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” – Philippians 4:4

If one word could sum up the book of Philippians, it would probably be “rejoice.” In this book, the words for joy and rejoicing appear sixteen times in only 104 verses. Yet Paul is writing from imprisonment, a forced shelter-in-place (with the possible outcome of death). 

The dictionary defines “rejoice” as “to feel or show great joy or delight.” It isn’t merely joy, but the feeling of joy and gladness, the rising of it up to the surface such that it can be perceived by others. What feeling have you most displayed during your shelter-in-place? What would the people living with you say rises most to the surface? Would it be frustration, grumbling, weariness, complaint—or joy?

What does Paul rejoice in? He rejoices in other people who share the gospel (1:5), grow in faith (1:25), have the mind of Christ (2:2) and reunite with each other (2:28). He rejoices in Jesus who is proclaimed (1:18), who provides deliverance (1:19), who gives meaning to everything in life (2:16). Most frequently, he rejoices in the Lord (3:1; 4:4, 10). Nothing that Paul rejoices in is fixed in his circumstances; it is rather—as he repeatedly emphasizes—fixed in the Lord. He commands us in a present-tense, ongoing imperative: find and show your joy in the Lord. Find and show your joy in how the Lord works in and through other people.

Paul speaks in this book about a God to whom he can constantly pray. Who is sure to complete the good work he begins in us. Who fills us with the fruit of righteousness. Who gave up everything he had for us, who made us his own, who is of surpassing worth to know, who supplies every need of ours, through whom we can do all things. Whom he cannot wait to leave life and be with. If I truly grasped these things, would not my joy in this God be evident to all? Would I not say, like Habakkuk:

“Though the fig tree should not blossom,

   nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

   and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

   and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the Lord;

   I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

God, the Lord, is my strength;

   he makes my feet like the deer’s;

   he makes me tread on my high places.”