Rejoice in all things? Seriously?

In Philippians 4:4 the Apostle Paul wrote, “Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again-rejoice!”  He continues in verses 6-7a with “Don’t worry about anything, instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace…” (NLT)

Those words seem so strange to us, don’t they? “Me? Rejoice when things are all messed up and going south?” I read recently about a lady named Madame Guyon. She had a difficult life, marked by illness, neglect, and humiliation. When she was 16, her father tricked her into marrying a man who was 22 years older and afflicted with gout. She became his nurse and cared for him tirelessly, living in her mother-in-law’s home, even after she spread vicious lies about her. Guyon deeply trusted God’s character and saw that her father’s deceit and mother-in-law’s lies were both blessings because they enabled her to humbly turn to God and see His great love for her. Rather than growing bitter at the pain she’d endured, she chose to see God’s loving hand in it-that God has brought all her circumstances to draw her closer to Him. 

Vaneetha Rendall Risner, in her book Watching for the Morning writes,

“Everything that is difficult in our lives is a divine invitation to turn to God. Our annoyances can reveal our sin. People who hurt us give us opportunities to forgive.” (p.14)

Believing difficult times in our lives is often God’s invitation to trust Him is something I believe very strongly. That is why I’m asking for prayer. Here it is (no names because of the public nature of this post). Someone I know has a friend who is suspected of having pancreatic cancer and also has some lesions on his liver that will need to be biopsied as well. He is to have an endoscopy on Monday and they will take it from there. If it is cancer, he will have chemo to shrink it, then if that happens, surgery to remove it. My deepest concern is this person is not a Christ-follower. I’m praying if not me then someone can tell him about Jesus and lead him to Christ. Your prayers would be greatly appreciated. 

Meanwhile, “rejoice in the Lord” becomes a tangible and real test.