In studying 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18 we started at the end and worked backwards. We noted that everything we experience is to be seen as God’s will. Since that is true we should thank God in all circumstances. If it is hard for us to see how it could be God’s will then we are encouraged to pray.
Since life is filled with challenges of this nature it is natural to be encouraged to pray continually. When God answers our prayers and we begin to see what He was doing in our circumstances it will cause us to experience and express joy.
Joy, however, is not to be experienced and expressed only after we see what God has done. We are enjoined to “be joyful always.” In other words, we are to rejoice by faith in anticipation of what God is going to do. Is that easy to do? No. But if we remember Paul’s words in Philippians 4:4 it might help. “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
No matter what you’re experiencing, the Lord is there with you. Rejoice in Him! He understands what you’re experiencing. He knows why you are experiencing it. He knows your part in it. He’s aware of what others are doing and why they are doing it. And He knows what He plans to do.
Paul put it this way in Romans 8:28, “We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
The Psalmist exulted, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Can you say this by faith?
