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That’s what Paul tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 when he says, “Rejoice always.” That is certainly a tall order. In my life, melancholy emotions are a recurring reality and I know that I am not the only one. I have been relieved to hear of many men and women of God ranging from Elijah the prophet, to Spurgeon the preacher who dealt with gloom. I recently read that Billy Graham’s family nicknamed him Puddleglum. Puddleglum is a dour character from C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia (he is not a dwarf as I said in my message this weekend but rather a Marsh-wiggle, which is some sort of amphibious creature) who always expects the worse. That is a strange nickname for someone like Billy Graham who has been a constant beacon of hope and optimism to the world for many decades. His family knew that though he trusted the Lord he also struggled with pessimism and skepticism like many of us do. But God calls us to fight those feelings and rejoice anyways.

Now when Paul tells us that, he isn’t saying we need to always be happy (that’s not realistic) or that we need go around singing songs from Mary Poppins all the time (that would be super annoying.) But what he is saying is that we should never stop being full of joy. Joy is a supernatural fruit of the Spirit that enables us to delight in God’s goodness no matter what we are going through. Joy operates independently from circumstances. It doesn’t require us to be ordering happy meals in order to for it to function. Joy goes deeper than that. In fact, even when we are suffering we can rejoice, remembering that God uses trials to make us more like Him. Paul’s life attests to this fact, and his great book on joy, the epistle to the Philippians, was written from a Roman jail cell. So whether you are a Tigger or an Eeyore by nature you can rejoice. Psalm 68:19 says, “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loads us with benefits, the God of our salvation!”

To hear a whole message on this click here.

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