Rejoicing In All Riches

“Rejoiced” is a Hebrew word that is used in Deuteronomy to describe the pleasure of God in exhibiting His character before men.  He rejoices over them to bless if they obey and He “rejoices” over them to destroy them if they disobey! (Dt. 28:63, 30:9).  It is a “joy” to God to act according to His nature.

So also it ought to be a joy to us to act according to our new nature as well.  The Psalmist tells us that it was a joyful thing for him to consider and walk in the ways of God’s testimonies.  There are many things in life that are a joy to us.  Some people find great pleasure in sports.  Others in a hobby of some kind.  Others take great joy in family or in work.  Some take joy in keeping a garden or in home repair, or perhaps in keeping up repairs on their automobile.  Some take joy in helping others or in volunteering.  All of those things are wonderful things and extremely valuable and profitable in their own way and in the proper context.

However, almost inevitably, we allow these things to become more significant than they ought to be and to take more of our time and resources than they ought to take.  The question is, how can we prevent this from happening?  The writer tells how to begin in the rest of this phrase and verse.

“The way of your testimonies” tells us how we are to make this a priority.  “The way” refers to the style or the manner of a thing.  “Testimonies”refers to the capacity of the Word to communicate truth concerning His nature and character and to tell us of his desires and of requirements for us.

Those testimonies describe things that affect all areas of life and are comprehensive in their application to our behavior.  They really describe a “way” of life.  The key to being blessed and to rejoicing in the things of God is to learn to see the “way” of God as described in the Bible as a good and profitable thing, a thing worthy of our joy and pleasure.

The scripture tells us that the commands of God ought not to be a burden to his children.  This speaks to both his intent for them as well as to our attitude toward them.  God did not intend for the way of life communicated in the Bible to be a grief to us.  For many – it is a burden, a thing that could be more described as work than as a joy.

We ought to note also that this speaks, not to individual acts of obedience, but to our lifestyle in general.  It is not so much the individual things that we do.  Rather we are told here that we ought to take joy in the life of obedience and submission to God’s Word as a whole – not in the particulars.

The beginning of the verse talked about the initiation of God regarding our emotional response and attitude toward his Word and toward our obedience and submission to that Word.  He desires that it cause us joy and that we rejoice at the lifestyle it commends to us.

Further, we saw that our attitude toward it ought to be one of joy and we ought to rejoice in the “way” it commends to us.  This lifestyle cannot and ought not be a burden or a task – rather it ought to be a joy and bring us a sense of fulfillment and completion.  Sadly, many in Christianity see the requirements and lifestyle that the Word commends to us as a duty and not a privilege and a pleasure.

The end of the verse speaks to us of two other issues:  genuineness and intensity or extent.

For most people, money is where the rubber meets the road.  The scripture tells us that where a man’s treasure is, there his heart will be also.  When we look at where a person puts his money, we get a good look at where his priorities really are.  People often talk a good show – but the reality of how they disperse their resources often tells the lie to their verbal profession.  We frequently rationalize unbiblical priorities and self-indulgence by calling it stewardship or responsibility.

The writer knows this.  He tells us that we need to get ourselves to the place where the pursuit of God and obedience and submission to the “way” it teaches is of greater value and priority to us than the pursuit and possession of riches.  There is no way to “fake” this kind of priority.  One cannot do both things as they are mutually exclusive.  You cannot serve God and Mammon.  It is only when we genuinely seek to make the pursuit of the way of the Word that we will show this kind of genuineness.

The central idea in the phrase is that of extent or intensity.  It is clear that the idea here is that eh Psalmist loved the Word and took more joy from the pursuit of it than from the pursuit of riches.  How many of us could say such a thing?  Few of us could honestly say that love we have and the joy we take from the things of God is greater than the joy we take from material things.  If we are honest – we’ll see that there is much work to be done in this area.

For many – there is a real question about whether they actually take joy from their Christian life at all!  It is surely true that all believers have joy-filled moments and many have things or aspects of the “way” of God’s testimonies that they enjoy.  But it is a legitimate question as to whether we are happy about the mandates of the Word of God and its requirements for life in general.  The writer of Psalm 119 was filled with joy at the prospect and pursuit of the “way” of God in general.  He rejoiced in all that the Scripture asked of him.