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One Sunday morning, I saw a congregant praising God with tears rolling down his cheeks. His voice cracked and his lips quivered as he sang. His wife had died the week before. Yet he was blessing the Lord despite his burdens. He was following Paul’s command in Philippians 4:4: “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” The worship of God, not his sorrows, consumed him.
This Christian’s rejoicing was a witness. There were unbelievers among us. As he left the church that day, he carried his rejoicing heart out the doors to a watching world. Rejoicing in God, regardless of our circumstances, declares truth to outsiders, who also live in a cursed land. The world seeks to distract us from our problems. It attempts to numb us to our pain. Christianity calls for an opposite response: to rejoice in the Lord no matter the circumstances. The difference between the world and the Christian faith could not be more apparent.
When Paul said, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice,” he was in prison, which was virtually a death sentence in the ancient world. While there, the Apostle practiced what he preached. Acts 16:25 states that while in jail, “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God.” Their rejoicing was a witness. It’s one of the reasons that the Philippian jailer fell before them and asked, “What must I do to be saved?” (v. 30). Paul’s praising of God behind bars opened a door for evangelism. When we praise God in everything, especially in the difficult, doors can open for us to communicate truth to a watching world.
What truth can our rejoicing communicate? First, the sovereignty of God. When we rejoice in the Lord always, we proclaim that He is over all things. Psalm 24:1 states, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein.” Worshiping God even in the doldrums of life tells the world that He is on the throne, not us. He rules so that “leaf and blade, rain and drought, fruitful and lean years, food and drink, health and sickness, prosperity and poverty”—all things come not by chance but from God’s hand (Heidelberg Catechism 27). Singing the Lord’s praise in every situation, including suffering, shows the unbeliever a submissive posture to His purposes. It declares that He reigns, not man. God’s sovereignty speaks hard truth, but it is truth that the world needs.
Second, rejoicing in all things communicates truth about the trustworthiness of God. Extolling His excellencies in the face of struggles reveals how He is a sure foundation upon which to stand. When the gale-force winds of hardship blow against us, worshiping our Creator says to a watching world that the Lord is the only “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Ps. 46:1). Everyone trusts in something; it is simply a matter of what. Rejoicing in the Lord in everything proclaims God’s reliability. It tells the lost, as William Cowper writes in his hymn “God Moves in a Mysterious Way,” “Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace; behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face.”
Third, rejoicing in the Lord communicates truth about the love of God. First John 4:8 says, “God is love.” It doesn’t tell us “God was loving” or “He will be loving.” God’s love is present, perpetual, and pervasive. God’s love is incalculable. It cannot be fully measured by human standards. Therefore, the presence of problems in life does not undermine the fact of God’s love. God’s love is unstoppable. The rays of His affection are not blocked by the gray clouds of sorrow. God’s love is extensive. His heart can be found even in the troubles that we encounter. There may be times when it is difficult to perceive the love of God. When we rejoice in the Lord always, however, we tell the world where to go to see a present, perpetual, and pervasive love. We point the world to Golgotha’s hill. It is on the tree as Jesus suffered and died for sinners that the love of God is best seen. Affection for sinners held Jesus to the cross more than nails.
The love of God is seen not in focusing on one’s circumstances but in viewing Christ’s cross. “This is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10). When we rejoice in the Lord always, we proclaim to the world the love of God in Jesus Christ to save sinners from death and hell and to save them to a new life and to a new heaven and a new earth. We communicate that there is more to living than feeling good, more than the here and now. Life is lived in view of Christ’s love, and His love makes us rejoice no matter our circumstances. The church is a city set on a hill. As we rejoice in all things, we shout that there is something to sing about in a world filled with depravity, despair, and death. It is the love of God shown in the crucified and risen Savior.
How do we rejoice in the Lord always? It is not easy to praise God and simultaneously proclaim truth to the lost, especially when burdens weigh us down. The way to rejoice and witness is to meditate on the sovereignty, trustworthiness, and love of God. The more we meditate on what is true, lovely, and praiseworthy, the more we will want to bless the Lord. If His rule, reliability, and redeeming grace in Christ capture our hearts, we can’t help but rejoice in all circumstances and witness at the same time. Our rejoicing in the Lord will become our witnessing.