Joy in the Lord!

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.” (Psalm 100:1-5)

Don’t we love the feeling of wanting to shout aloud for happiness we are currently in? For example, you get promoted in your workplace or everything goes according to your plan with no mistakes. I believe I had that feeling many times but the last one I remember probably was getting my internship of Windsor Park Baptist Church. I had not expected to get any job in the church except volunteering work until I got a theological qualification from Carey Baptist College. What surprised me more is the role that I got is an E-Prayer Lead as I never thought that I will be working in a prayer ministry. Nevertheless, I am enjoying my internship as it can be one of the resources in my spiritual growth as well.

According to the commentary of Bible Study Tools, Psalm 100:1 states that the whole world would be filled with joyful hearts in the Lord. Does this mean that everyone should always rejoice in the Lord? How then people should react when there are morning and grieving circumstances in the world? Several Psalms declare that we should always remember and meditate on the deeds of the Lord. One illustration of this is in Psalm 77:

‘“Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”’ (vv. 7-12)