The Strings of Life

UV 741/10,000 The Strings of Life But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. Psalm 68 v 3 Emotions are like strings that can connect us with either God or the devil, Heaven or hell. It depends on which strings we chose to play and not on the circumstances we find ourselves in. Scripture says that “ a glad heart is a continual feast.” When we feast on the Word of God and the promises and commands of the Lord, it is like enjoying a spiritual banquet. In the banquet of life, our memories are like appetisers, our present experiences of God’s grace and mercy are the main course that give us strength and nourishment and the dessert is waiting to be served. It is the banquet that the King has invited us to. It is the banquet of the wedding of His Son, Jesus the Bridegroom. It is our faith that obtains the invitation to join the banquet. We are declared righteous by faith or eligible to join the banquet. In this uni-verse, the Lord sets a choice before us of either being glad or happy or joyful. There is no fourth option in the gamut of godly emotions. We need to be glad to be alive, happy about happenings and circumstances and joyful about eternal life. Gladness is rooted in the present, happiness is rooted in the past but arches over like a fruit-laden bough of a tree into the present and joy is rooted in the future hope we have. All three, namely, gladness, happiness and joy will run concurrently in our lives. I was listening to the birds thrilling in the morning light and breeze. The thrilling produced the chirping and the joyful flapping of their wings. They were announcing to the world around, “ we are glad to be alive.” Similarly, the Lord desires that we praise and rejoice in the presence of the Lord always with a ten –stringed harp in our hands. The ten strings of the harp of life are: the string of good health and energy, the string of peace and quiet, the string of family and kinship, the string of friendship and fellowship, the string of provision of our need, the string of success, honour and achievement, the string of victory and deliverance from foes and enemies, the string of protection and safety, the string of gifts and talents, the string of hope of salvation and eternal life in Christ. We need to worship the Lord with this harp as David did. The alternative is to play depressing music on another harp with a different set of strings: the string of complaints of small ailments and troubles, the string of disquiet and lack of peace, the string of conflict, the string of egoism, guilt and unforgiveness, the string of the feeling of discontentment, the string of failure and weaknesses, the string of fear of defeat, the string of insecurity, the string of inability and limitations and the string of death and evil. When we play the latter set of strings, satan is most glad, happy or joyful as his goal is to rob us of our present happiness and gladness and in so doing kill the joy of our salvation over time. The Lord desires that the cup of our gladness, happiness and joy shall be full and overflowing and that is why He answers our faithful prayers. When His face shines on us as the noonday sun, it implies that we have found grace or favour in His eyes. This grace or divinely originated joy will then be reflected in our attitudes, thoughts, words, actions, reactions and relationships. Of the three types of positive emotions, happiness is the most fickle and least dependable since it is dependent on happenings that keep changing and shifting. The Word provides the remedy : we need to anchor our minds to the command: Rejoice in the Lord always, implying in all our ways and in all circumstances and through all happenings. Rejoicing in the Lord means that we find joy not just in the gifts that He has given us or what He has done for us but we rejoice in His presence even as a bride rejoices in her bridegroom. She rejoices that she is blessed to be wedded to him. She rejoices that she has complete security, faith and trust in him. Her past is vindicated, her present is blessed and her future is assured. Prateep V Philip