How many times have we seen or heard someone rejoicing over the fact that they just received good news? Maybe it was a promotion at work, nailing a test, or just receiving something that they've been praying for. How many times do we hear, after the rejoicing, something to the extent of "God is so good!"? Personally, I see this quite often.
Now, it IS awesome when our Heavenly Father blesses us with something we've been wanting for a long time. It's also great when He grants us the ability to recall our knowledge that we've studied for a test or helps us totally nail an interview. I love hearing about that, and I think it's great that we see so many people give God their glory during such good times and great circumstances. However, what happens when we DON'T get what we want? What happens then?
How many times do we praise Him when we don't get something that we thought we deserved? What about when we are upset, or when something negative happens in our lives? The thing is, God is still God even when we face those trying times. When we are in our darkest moments of despair, or even when we simply had a bad day, God is still God. God is still God and that makes Him still holy, still reliable, still omnipotent, and still righteous. Should we not be rejoicing in that? It should be the greatest feeling to know that we can turn to God and that He will be there comforting us in our darkest days, but that He will also be there rejoicing with us in our best times.
Again I say it, God is still God even when you don't get what you want. In the times that we don't get what we want, God obviously has something better in store. Though we've all heard this expression a million times, it really is true. Even though it's irritating (and even infuriating sometimes) when things don't go "our way" or the way we think they should, should we not actually be rejoicing that those things didn't work out? Something not working out should be an automatic signal to us that the best is yet to come, and that should be the greatest feeling in the world.
It's a natural part of being human to be sad in the hard times. We should let ourselves feel that, yes, but what I'm saying is that we should lean on God more in those hard times than ever before. Not only is He still there, waiting for us to run to Him, He is also working out all of the things for our futures.
Maybe, instead of sulking when we don't like our circumstances, we should pray about it. Maybe we should pray to have a heart like God and to seek and understand His will more clearly. Maybe we should pray for our own hearts to be softened and to be able to rejoice in the hard times. If we could only see past our own fleshly desires and selfish hearts, we would be able to see that our brightest and best days are in front of us. God is still good.
Rejoice in the Lord always, again I will say, rejoice! —Philippians 4:4.
