At the age of twenty-five Richard Wurmbrand was a successful
businessman. He had wealth and influence and had taken full advantage of the
pleasures that the world had to offer. Still he was far from being happy. In
April 23rd's post, Count it All Joy, you can read how God changed Richard from a man who refused to accept salvation, for fear of the difficulty that accompanied it, into a pastor who prayed that he
might bear a cross for his Saviour’s sake. It was in Christ that Richard found
the joy that he was unable to get from material goods.
'The Communists believe that happiness comes from
material satisfaction' and we, as North Americans, often fall into the belief that
happiness, or joy, is a feeling that we cannot control. It comes and it goes - dictated
by our surroundings or even our mood. We believe that if we don’t feel joyful
than we can not have joy. But Richard Wurmbrand found this assumption also to be false. Suffering starvation, isolation, and cold, as a prisoner of the
Communist government, Richard didn’t just feel
joy. Sessions of physical and emotional
torture don't naturally result in a joyful mood. Yet despite his feelings, rather than
because of them, Richard Wurmbrand had joy. How?
He chose it. The abundance of joy that he had found in
the presence of His Savior had not ceased to be available to him when he was
locked into a prison cell. Anymore than it was stolen from Paul and Silas when
they were flogged, thrown into an inner cell, and fastened into stocks (Acts
xvi. 22-25). God commands His people over and over again to ‘rejoice’, a word that means to choose or
show happiness or joy; to be glad. In the English language emotions, like sad
or happy, are adjectives. The word rejoice, however, is a verb – an action
word. It is a choice, an action -a movement of soul, to rejoice.
In Psalm xvi.11 David wrote, “You make known to me the
path of life; in Your presence there is fullness
of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” As Christians, we have been given access to source of joy, who is
Christ Himself. However, as it takes a conscious decision to walk to the sink
and fill up your empty water glass so it takes a decision to come to Christ and
receive the joy that He offers. Paul, Silas, and Richard Wurmbrand
all made the decision to take their eyes off of the prison cells that
surrounded them, to push aside the feelings of sorrow, self pity, and despair
and to look at Jesus instead.
“Obedience to God is always possible. It is a deadly
error to fall into the notion that when feelings are extremely strong we can do
nothing about them.” – Elisabeth Elliot
In last weeks post, Did God Really Say?, we found that it is truly God’s will for us to
rejoice always and to give thanks in
all circumstances in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians v. 16 - 18). This is done
by faith in Christ Jesus. By believing that the circumstances don’t actually factor
into our ability to have joy, unless we allow them to keep us from turning our
eyes onto Jesus, who remains good and faithful in every situation. When
we believe this we begin to feel joy when naturally we should feel sorrow.
“Sometimes I was so filled with joy that I felt I
would burst if I did not give it expression. I remembered the words of Jesus, “Blessed
are you when men come to hate you, when they exclude you from their company and
reproach you and cast out your name as evil on account of the Son of Man.
Rejoice in that day and leap for joy!”
I told myself, “I’ve carried out only half of this
command. I’ve rejoiced, but is that enough? Jesus clearly says we must also
leap.”
When the next guard peered through the spy hole, he
saw me springing about my cell. His orders must have been to distract anyone
who showed signs of breakdown, for he padded off and returned with some food
from the staff room: a hunk of bread, some cheese, and sugar. As I took them I
remembered how the verse in Luke went on: “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy
– for behold your reward is great.” It was a very large piece of bread – more than
a week’s ration!” – Richard Wurmbrand, In
God’s Underground
As he had chosen joy, so then did Pastor Wurmbrand
choose to stand up in his cell and leap. In both cases God rewarded his
obedience and He will ours as well.
In
Christ
quiana
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