How Do You Rejoice When Life Hurts?

I Thessalonians 5:16-18 – “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

At first reading, these lines from the Apostle Paul seem like a happy, poetic view of life that resemble a cheerful statement on a coffee mug that is meant to brighten up our day. But this is not poetry, and it’s not Paul’s advice for keeping a smile on your face. Read it again. Paul writes this as a command. To emphasize this point, the apostle says, ‘this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.’

Suddenly, this little sentence becomes an overwhelming spiritual necessity.

Like…how do you do this?!

The ‘pray without ceasing’ part is not quite as daunting. I understand trying to live my life always being aware of Christ’s presence with me, and having constant, open communication with Him in my mind as I live my life, like a dear friend who is always beside me. That’s hard enough, but ‘rejoice ALWAYS’…’give thanks in ALL CIRCUMSTANCES’!

These two really get to me. Some of the situations that I find myself in are so sad, disappointing, and hard that there are no feelings of joy or thankfulness. How do you manufacture these feelings, when life is hard, as it so often is?

The answer is…you don’t.

Someone asked Joni Erickson Tada, a Christian singer, writer, speaker, and artist who as a young woman was permanently paralyzed from the neck down, how can you be thankful for how hard your life has been and still is? Her answer was, ‘God didn’t command us to be thankful. He commanded us to ‘give thanks’. Giving thanks to God when we find ourselves in hard unpleasant circumstances was never intended to be an emotional reaction. Rejoicing and giving thanks is an act of our will. They are things we choose to do in spite of our hard situations. They are the response of our faith in God when we trust that our Father in Heaven is taking care of us, never failing us, never leaving us—no matter what happens.

So, if your life is especially challenging today, I urge you to fall back on the faithfulness of God and choose to rejoice, pray, and give thanks. Paul says that’s God’s will for us in Christ Jesus. It is actually His power in us that enables our faith to make choices like these. And when we do, like Joni, we will find that our simple everyday life will bring glory to God.