Always Rejoicing

In youth group we used to sing a chorus that went , "Praise him in the morning, Praise him in the noontime, praise him when the sun goes down!" We were all truly filled with the joy of the Lord as we sang those words. It seemed so easy to always be rejoicing. It seemed a lot easier of course when we were all young, full of energy and had no real world responsibilities.
                 Now looking back I see that though the words we sang and the joy we felt were true, we had not yet been really tested.  We had a lot of growing up to do before we could finish that journey. Even on days when I do start praising God in the morning, I am often running and busy by noontime and scarce have another thought till the sun does begin to go down. Jesus warns us about living a life like this. He calls it having his word planted among the thorns of our life. The end result of this kind of gardening is plants that are being choked out and unfruitful.

But thankfully our own failure is not the end of God's work in our lives. In chapter twelve of Hebrews we hear a strange kind of encouragement.

Have you forgotten the encouraging words that God spoke to you as His children, " He said, "My child don't make light of the Lord's discipline and don't give up when He corrects you.  For the Lord disciplines those He loves and He punishes every one He accepts as His child.


No God isn't through with any of us yet! No matter where we are in God's process we can take a deep breath and begin to thank him that He is still working on us. That is a different kind of rejoicing than we may be used to, but it is the kind of rejoicing that God gives us that will last forever...