Daily Devotion for May 8, 2025

Devotion:

For an audio version of this devotion, click here.

Read Philippians 4:4.

The apostle Paul urges us to "rejoice in the Lord always." But how do you rejoice when things have turned against you? How can you rejoice when you have lost a loved one? How can you rejoice when you have been diagnosed with a terminal disease? How can you rejoice when you live your life in a wheelchair? How can you rejoice when, no matter how hard you try, things are not going right in your family life?

We might be tempted to say that Paul doesn’t know what life struggles really are. But the Bible lets us know that Paul had a rough life. Paul was not writing these words from a plush office but from a prison in the Roman Empire. Paul learned from personal experience that our joy in God does not depend on having things go our way or having everything we want, but on whether or not we are connected to God and living out our faith.

Paul does not tell us to rejoice in tragedy or to rejoice over the fact that someone we love is gone. Paul wants us to rejoice in the God who never changes, who forgives, and who always loves us. The closer we live to this Lord, the more we will be able to rejoice in him, even when things turn against us.

Personal Worship Option:

Dear God, sometimes it seems almost impossible for us to rejoice. Help us to understand that only in and through your Holy Spirit can we possibly learn to rejoice in you. Amen.