Read the transcript from today's video devotional.
One of the things that I know is true about us as human beings is we don't really have a problem with celebrating. We know how to celebrate. In actuality, we know how to throw a party. Human beings know how to rejoice. The question is never whether or not we know how to rejoice or how to celebrate. The real question is what is it that we rejoice in and what do we celebrate? In this case, it's not even a what. It's who we celebrate and who we rejoice in.
Lightning and Thunder
I love the idea that rejoicing is the response of a connectedness to God. I think of it sort of like lightning and thunder. I live in the South, and from time to time, these crazy storms will roll through where we live and the thunder gets pretty crazy, kind of rumbles the house, the kids start to be a little nervous.
Even though I'm not a scientist, I know how thunder works. It's lightning breaking into the atmosphere, the heat of that lightning heating up the air around it and leads to this response. This thunder that we hear comes from the lightning breaking through. When I think about rejoicing, it's really no different when it comes to who God is in our lives.
A connection with God is like lightning breaking into our hearts when we realize who He is and what He's done, and what it means to know Him. This lightning of love from God breaks into our hearts. Do you know what the response is? The thunder of rejoicing in light of this love breaking in. The thunder, the response, the rejoicing comes because of who He is and what He's like.
The Closeness of God's Love
Thunder and lightning are interesting too, because we also know that the quicker you hear the thunder after you see the lightning means that's how close the lightning really is. What we want in our lives as a result of a connection with God, is for there to be a quick result of rejoicing. We want rejoicing to be a regular rhythm in our lives.
We want to be people who are known for celebration and for rejoicing. That celebration, that rejoicing, comes as a result of who God is, of knowing Him. When we live this way as people of faith, the people around us start to see that the source is producing this life that feels compelling. I want to know what's going on.
A Reason for Hope
I think about how later on in the New Testament, we'll see in 1 Peter chapter 3 this idea that we need to be ready to give a reason for the hope that we have as followers of Jesus. One of the things that's really compelling to somebody who might be wondering about rejoicing is that this rejoicing we express shows a life that's probably a little bit different than what we're used to seeing in regular, everyday culture.
I want my rejoicing to come from a place of connectedness. The second part of that psalm that we just read, it offers a word that's really hard for a lot of us in our humanity: trust. I trust in God. There's a lot of things in our lives on a day to day basis that definitely cause us to question whether they're true or not.
What we need is an anchor for our soul. What we need is that our trust rests in Him. When we're connected to God, rejoicing results from our lives.
