To Rejoice Is A Choice

Scripture

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.”

~Psalm 34:1, ESV

Quote

“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances.”

~Viktor Frankl

In Psalm 31:7, David said, I will rejoice and be glad in Your steadfast love, because You have seen my affliction; You have known the distress of my soul. David did not say, “I feel like rejoicing: things are going so well with me.” Things were not going well at all yet he resolved to rejoice in the LORD and His salvation. One reason Luther and Calvin loved these Psalms was that they dispelled the myth that believers do not suffer. David wrote many of the Psalms while under heavy stress. When he wrote Psalm 34, he was being hunted by Saul who has all the resources of the state {FBI, CIA, Military}. David had the LORD and nothing else. At the writing of this Psalm, he didn’t have family and friends, at least not with him. Note David’s commitment or resolve, “I will bless the LORD at all times…I will praise Him…I will rejoice.” David is disciplining himself to praise the LORD at all times in all situations, not just when things are going well. David makes a conscious choice to praise God in spite of the circumstances or the way he feels. The soul can become a fearful chatter box during times of afflictions. David refused to let his soul get the best of him. As in the case of Psalm 42:5, Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? We cannot allow our soul to call the shots; we cannot go by our feelings. It is true, there are times when we do not feel like praising the LORD but you take command of your soul and praise Him anyway. Praising Him is a choice.

I love the movie THE FIRST KNIGHT. In the movie, Lady Guinevere of Leonesse is engaged to marry King Arthur of Camelot. It is an arranged marriage. Guinever loves and adores Arthur but he is old enough to be her grandfather and her love is not romantic. When Lancelot courageously rescues her from peril, she falls in love with him. Eventually Arthur finds out about the attraction and confronts Guinever. Arthur is ready to call the wedding off but Guinever protests: she says in effect, “I will marry you just as we had planned. My will is stronger than my heart.” Of course this is not what Arthur wants to hear; he wanted her heart and her will, but Guinever is stating a truth that is fit to live by. You cannot trust your heart. Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful, who can know it?” The heart will deceive you and lead you down the wrong path. Those who follow their emotions are like a roller-coaster, up and down, all depending on circumstances.

I am not exalting the human will but I can tell you that God and given you the power to make a choice and you can enter the gates with thanksgiving if you choose to and you can praise Him, if you resolve to do it. I love the little ditty, PRAISE THE LORD AND HALLELU, WE DON’T CARE WHAT THE DEVIL IS GOING TO DO…THE WORD OF GOD IS OUR SWORD AND SHIELD AND JESUS IS THE LORD OF THE WAY WE FEEL!

Extra

We continue to be blessed by friends and family. We had the COLS for Lori’s mom yesterday and Lance {son, and Lori’s brother} did what only a family member could do. He and Joe David made it a true celebration of life service. So many folks turned out to support Lori and family that she was overwhelmed. Speaking for Joe David, Lori, Ty and Josie; thank you all for your love and support and for those who drove from Athens. We did not expect that but we do appreciate it very much.

June and I were especially blessed to have Teddy and Lisa stop by on Saturday for an hour of sweet, sweet fellowship. Big Mama is a big supporter of the work in Guatemala and if they had a direct flight from Huntsville to Grace Mountain, she would be gone in a heartbeat. When Big Mama went to Guatemala, they treated her like a queen: every time I went, they worked me like a dog. But guess who got a pecan pie out of the deal? June got a bucket full of green beans and I got a pie. That makes us for the partiality shown to me in Guatemala.

Big crowd at the POINT yesterday: biggest crowd since Easter and the congregational singing was great! Another A+ for Joe and the praise team.

I hope you have a great week and thanks for reading the blog.

Extra/Extra

LORD willing, Keith Blackwood and I are putting in the A/C unit in the bed room today. One step closer to being finished. The list is getting shorter, PTL!!!! Another big rain yesterday. I think it has rained everyday except one in the last 10 days. Not complaining: it beats a drought.