The followers of Jesus are a happy people. “For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work!”  (Ps. 92:4).  And the word from Paul´s prison, “Rejoice in the Lord always” (Phil. 4:4) is not a mere suggestion, but a direct command by virtue of the merits of our glorified Lord.

This is what His Spirit, keeps telling us bringing home to us, especially at despondent moments.  In my mom´s family there are many manic-depressive cases, at times happy and at other times resorting to pills.

To a Christian there is a way out.  Some may not agree with me though.  An English friend with a good sense of humor smilingly said to me, “You don´t need pills, you need the gospel, thus playing with the syllable “-pel”.

Indeed, the Holy Spirit is eager to lift up Christ to our depressive souls of which Spurgeon, Bunyan, David Brainard, Wm. Cowper, and many others testify, not to forget Paul and David, the psalmist. They found no anti-depressive pills on the market, but the Spirit of Christ was eagerly pointing “to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls” (1 Pet. 2:25).

A Danish brother shared with us Ps. 118:24, “This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it!”.  This was to him a fresh challenge, and he kept repeating it and stressed the word “will” and so to him (and to us) it´s a matter of the will rather than “feel like to be glad.”

“This is the day, … we will rejoice in it!”  And yet it´s also the day where, in the last days, “there will come times of difficulty” having “the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.”  This is the dominating trait of the streamlined, professing church nowadays.  It looks happy and cheerful, and yet it amounts to nothing but a subtle frivolity of the world.

Having said all this, this is still the day to rejoice no matter how evil it is. Our rejoicing in it is as an act of the will. The will testified by our Danish brother was actually cooperating with the Holy Spirit,  working in us “to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13)

May 9, 2020 - jn