God, my God, You have commanded me to rejoice always. You have commanded me to find joy in plenty and in little. You have commanded me to exult in anguish and pain, trial and persecution. Yet my heart finds this command troubling. For how can I find joy in this life? What can this existence provide me that will sustain my deepest desires and pleasures?
I find it a toil to strain after joy when the world around me is so void of joy. As I stand amidst the turbulence of life, I find myself swept up in the tumult. My happiness is so often stolen and the life I once found sweet turns bitter. Why is this? Why do I in one moment feel the thrill of life yet in another wish for my life to be no more? It can only be that I turn to the fickle things of the world for my joy.
So often I set my eyes on the things below and find that they do not satisfy me. So often I am broken by the pain of life because I turn to the things of this world for my peace. Yet this world around me is so far apart from lasting peace, from lasting joy, from comfort. Why God do I this? Why does my heart eb and flow with the changing tides of life? Teach me my Lord to find lasting joy, lasting peace, lasting satisfaction.
Consider this. How the mountains stand in such grandeur, and how when I look upon them I feel a wave of awe and fear wash over me. And yet what is a mountain? Is it no more than a mass of rock? What more is it than a veneer of green and gold, overlaying a pile of rubble? But then why do I feel such wonder at this dumb mound?
It can only be that the glory of the mountain is not in the granite, nor the trees, nor the snow capped peak. Rather the glory of the mountain is found in the fingerprint of its glorious Creator. For You, O God, are truly wondrous. Not because someone has bestowed to You this glory, but rather because Your very nature is glorious.
When I look at the mountain, I am right to feel wonder, but only if my wonder turns me to my Lord who created such grandeur. If my awe were found only in the mountain then were the mountain to erode away to nothing, so too would my awe. Yet when I place reverence in my Creator, then my awe does not change. For whether the mountain stands or falls, You remain the great and glorious God who can raise and raze whatever You please.
The things of this world are ever shifting. They stand for a moment and then are not. They rise and fall. They change. When I set my heart on worldly things, my heart too will stand for a moment and then be broken. It will rise and fall. Its affections will change. But You, O God, do not change. You are eternally the same. You remain steadfastly good, kind, and gracious. Unlike the complex world, constantly shifting and swaying, You are a simple God who remains forever God. And so, when I set my heart upon You, it too remains steadfast.
This is how You can command me to rejoice always. When my joy is found in only You, it will never fall. You are eternal. My joy too can be eternal when it is found in You.
O God, set my heart on You alone. Everytime I have turned to this world for comfort, I have been left wanting. If my joy is found in money, I will be found destitute or dissatisfied. If my joy is found in fame, I will be found rejected or discontent. If my joy is found in people I will be found friendless or displeased. Either I will lose the things of this world or I will find them void of lasting pleasure. True satisfaction is found in You alone, my God.
Take this world but give me Jesus. Teach me to hold the gifts You provide with a loose grip, yet to cling to my Savior tightly. One day I will look back upon the anguish of this life and say, “it was but a light momentary affliction in comparison to an eternal weight of glory.” I will look back and say, “God, You truly have worked all things for my good.” Even now I know these to be true.
Though I know not the reason for the paths You cause me to walk, I still rejoice. For my joy is eternal when it rests in You, my eternal God.