BE GLAD AND REJOICE

“…we will BE GLAD and REJOICE in His salvation” – Isaiah 25: 9b

This is the Will of God: that “we will be GLAD and REJOICE in His salvation” (Isa.25:9b). Why? Because God has turned our tears into Joy, and He ensures that our mouths are “FILLED with LAUGHTER and our tongue with SINGING” (Psa.126:2). The NIV says: “Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with SONGS of JOY.” Remember, this was the testimony of a people who recently knew only sorrow, suffering, and pain in exile. So, we can appreciate their sudden laughter and songs of Joy!  Some of the most heart-wrenching passages in the Bible relate to the exile of the Jews to Babylon.

Consider the heart-breaking words: “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captivity required of us a song, and those who plundered us required of us mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” (Psa.137:1-4). The sadness was intense and almost palpable. God’s people wept as they regretfully remembered Zion, and hung their harps in sorrow. Their captors tormented them by demanding songs of joy in a place of pain, but they just sat by the waters of Babylon and wept. How could they sing while in captivity in a foreign land? But now, by an amazing divine intervention, they were suddenly restored to Zion. And so their mouths were filled with laughter and songs of joy.

When we are faced with life-threatening challenges, it’s easy to wonder if we would ever laugh again. But in God’s timing of favour, sorrow is lifted, as God fills our mouths with laughter and songs of joy. Remember Abraham’s wife, Sarah, who knew the bitterness of being barren. She must have shed many tears over the years; but when God gave her the gift of Isaac in her old age, she said: “God has made me LAUGH, so that all who hear will LAUGH with me.” And she added, “Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? For I have borne him a son in his old age” (Gen.21:6-7). Like a dream, in an instant, God took away her tears and filled her mouth with laughter and songs of joy. He who did it for Sarah will do it for whosoever believes!

When God does His wondrous works in our lives, it brings glory to Him and Joy for us: “Then they said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them” (Psa. 126:2b). What God did for Israel was so amazing that even the surrounding nations took notice and gave Him the glory. And so did Israel: “The LORD has done great things for us, whereof we are glad” (Psa.126:3). God’s salvation is meant to be seen by the nations through the Joyful Praise of His redeemed people: “Break forth into JOY, sing together, you waste places of Jerusalem! For the LORD has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. The LORD has made bare His holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isa.52: 9-10).

These verses remind us of our responsibility to share with others, in an exuberant Spirit of Joy, what God has done for us. Beloved, do your friends and neighbours see the Joy of the Lord in your disposition? Do you regularly share testimonies of His goodness with those around you? Christians should be the most joyful of all people, because God has done great things for us! This should be the likeness of our testimony: “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him; we will be GLAD and REJOICE in His salvation” (Isa.25:9). Or we can sing like Mary when God chose her to birth the Messiah: “For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name” (Lk.1:49).