Rejoice

(by Lorie Codispoti)

Scripture reveals the way for us to rejoice, regardless of our circumstance.

“I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope.” (Psalm 16:8-9)

The way to rejoice under any circumstance? “I have set the Lord always before me.”

The psalmist isn’t communicating a desire or a request. This is an absolute declaration, coming from a nonnegotiable position. “I have” (past tense) “set the Lord always” (not sometimes) “before me” (not beside or behind me). And because Christ is holding my “right hand,” and guiding me, “I will not be moved.” Do you hear the resolve in this proclamation?

The Hebrew word for “rejoice” in this passage means, “to spin round,” and carries with it the idea of making an abrupt, forceful turn - as if going against what you feel emotionally in favor of what you know to be true. This isn’t a sweet ballerina twirl while you’re doing a happy dance in your living room. This is a willful, militant, about-face in the middle of a dark and bloody battle, when everything in you wants to do anything but “rejoice.”

Our English word for “rejoice” means, "To make joyful; to gladden; to animate with lively pleasurable sensations; to exhilarate." (Webster's 1828 Dictionary) And, the Latin prefix, "re," means “to go back.”

I am not a person who is easily angered, but we all have our triggers and I would be a fool to think that I am slow to anger if the right buttons are pushed. The fact that there have been times when I was caught off-guard, and reacted to anger in the wrong way, is enough of a reminder for me, that without “setting the Lord always before me” I will default to the kind of ungodly behavior that requires a supernatural intervention.

Because Jesus is the source of every believer’s joy, we have been given the opportunity to reset our hearts - to “spin around” and “go back” to the Source of our joy when we fall into a hard place.

Both the Hebrew and English words for “rejoice” point to the same thing… We must “set the Lord before us” and purpose to rejoice in every circumstance. It may mean spinning our hearts around and going back to remind ourselves of the truth of God's word, but it will always result in us testifying … “my heart is glad, my glory rejoices, and my flesh rests in hope.” (Vs.9)