I was not glad when I got out of bed this morning. Some things have occurred recently that tried to take away my joy. Now I know I’m not the only one who has troubles. Life is full of troubles and it doesn’t seem to care much who you are or what your position in life.
Just so you’ll understand, I wasn’t unhappy, I just wasn’t glad. Sure, things weren’t good, but they sure could have been worse.
Saturday on a trip home from Tulsa, one of the girls mentioned the old praise song, He Has Made Me Glad. I lead worship on Sunday morning from the piano, so I started the music with that old praise song from 1976. (I looked it up.)
“I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart. ….He has made me glad, Oh, He has made me glad, I will rejoice for He has made me glad.” (Taken from Psalm 100:4)
We sang a couple of times through and then from some place deep within me a little something began to stir as I sang. The feeling rumbled around inside me, until I did something I hadn’t done in a long time. I stood up, left the piano bench, and raised my hands to the Lord. We just kept singing a cappella, until we sang through two or three more times, then I went back to the piano to go on to the next song.
Now maybe you don’t do things like that in your church, but it’s acceptable in ours and it has been a while since I stood with my hands raised toward heaven.
At that moment, in one instant, God gave me back the joy that troubles have tried to steal away. My troubles haven’t gone away, they’re all still there, but my heart has changed. I might not be happy but I’ll have the joy that only the Lord gives.
God does many things “Suddenly.” I’m patiently waiting for my “Suddenly” to come to pass. Circumstances change. People grow up and change. In a moment’s time, things change and will never be the same again.
With God all things are possible. It’s time to rejoice.