Happiness

Rejoicing With Unspeakable Joy

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• published: 28 Mar 2016
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Rejoicing With Unspeakable Joy (I Peter 1:8) by Rev. Martyn McGeown I. What? II. In Whom? III. Who? A. W. Pink: “'Rejoice evermore’ (1 Thess. 5:16). It surely cannot be unsafe to do what God has commanded us. The Lord has placed no embargo on rejoicing. No, it is Satan who strives to make us hang up our harps. There is no precept in Scripture bidding us ‘Grieve in the Lord always: and again I say, Grieve;’ but there is an exhortation which bids us, ‘Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous: for praise is comely for the upright’ (Ps. 33:1). Reader, if you are a real Christian … then Christ is yours, all that is in Him is yours. He bids you ‘Eat, O friends; drink, yes, drink abundantly, O beloved’ (Song of Sol. 5:1): the only sin you may commit against His banquet of love is to stint yourself. ‘Let your soul delight itself in fatness’ (Isa. 55:2) is spoken not to those already in heaven but to saints still on earth…. ‘Joy in the Holy Spirit’ is altogether different from a natural buoyancy of Spirit. It is the product of the Comforter dwelling in our hearts and bodies, revealing Christ to us, answering all our need for pardon and cleansing, and so setting us at peace with God; and forming Christ in us, so that He reigns in our souls, subduing us to His control. There are no circumstances of trial and temptation in which we may refrain from it, for the command is, ‘Rejoice in the Lord always.’ He who gave this command knows all about the dark side of our lives, the sins and sorrows which beset us, the ‘much tribulation’ through which we must enter the kingdom of God. Natural hilarity leaves the woes of our earthly lot out of its reckoning. It soon relaxes in the presence of life’s hard-ships: it cannot survive the loss of friends or health. But the joy to which we are exhorted is not limited to any set of circumstances or type of temperament; nor does it fluctuate with our varying moods and fortunes” (Profiting from the Word, pp. 104-105).