Fighting Words: 7 Days of Speaking Truth Into the Darkness by Ellie HolcombSample

DAY 1: Rejoice Always

I love the promise from Philippians 4:4-7, but the command “Rejoice in the Lord always” can sometimes feel cruel in light of some of the pain and suffering life can throw at us. There are times when I wonder, “I’m supposed to rejoice in the middle of this mess?! I don’t feel like rejoicing. I feel like weeping.” But then, crashing into that command to rejoice is one of the sweetest promises of all: “The Lord is near.”

The nearness of God has been a balm to my weary and wounded soul over and over again. When I remember that God promises He’ll be near me always, I don’t have to worry, and I always have a reason to sing and to rejoice. In fact, this is the verse that inspired “Find You Here,” the song I wrote in the wake of my dad’s cancer diagnosis.

Nobody is ever ready for that call. A week after receiving that very scary news, my mom and dad had a worship night at their house. I’ll never forget it. I stood at the edge of the room that night, almost frozen in fear. But as I watched my mom and dad run into all the darkness and unknown ahead of them on this cancer journey with their hands raised in the air, praising God, the invitation to join them was almost irresistible. I ended up in the middle of the room, praising God right beside them. We encountered the peace and the presence of God that night in a way that will mark me forever. We didn’t have any answers or guarantees about my dad’s health. But we had peace. The Lord was near. 

My dad is now cancer-free—and we’re all so grateful—but I know my parents would have me say two things in light of their story: 1) Not all hard stories end this way (My family knows this well even in our own family history outside of my dad’s journey.); and 2) There are no guarantees except for the faithfulness and love of Jesus, which has seen us through all the way to the cross and beyond into resurrection life that is waiting for us on the other side. Because we have that, we can look suffering dead in the eye and say, “I see you, but because of who Jesus is and because of what He did on the cross and because He walked out of the grave, you do not get the final word. Love wins in the end, and this is why we can ‘rejoice always.’ This is why we’ve always got a reason to sing.”

• What circumstances in your life make it difficult to “rejoice always”?
• Have you ever experienced a peace or nearness from God that was unexplainable to your friends and family? What was that like?