"We will be glad and rejoice in Thee." --Song of Solomon 1:4
We will be glad and rejoice in Thee. We will not open the gates of the year
to the dolorous notes of the sackbut, but to the sweet strains of the harp of
joy, and the high sounding cymbals of gladness. "O come, let us sing unto the
Lord: let us make a joyful noise unto the rock of our salvation." We, the called
and faithful and chosen, we will drive away our griefs, and set up our banners
of confidence in the name of God. Let others lament over their troubles, we who
have the sweetening tree to cast into Marah's bitter pool, with joy will magnify
the Lord. Eternal Spirit, our effectual Comforter, we who are the temples in
which Thou dwellest, will never cease from adoring and blessing the name of
Jesus.
We WILL, we are resolved about it, Jesus must have the crown of
our heart's delight; we will not dishonour our Bridegroom by mourning in His
presence. We are ordained to be the minstrels of the skies, let us rehearse our
everlasting anthem before we sing it in the halls of the New Jerusalem.
We
will BE GLAD AND REJOICE: two words with one sense, double joy, blessedness
upon blessedness. Need there be any limit to our rejoicing in the Lord even now?
Do not men of grace find their Lord to be camphire and spikenard, calamus and
cinnamon even now, and what better fragrance have they in heaven itself?
We
will be glad and rejoice IN THEE. That last word is the meat in the dish,
the kernel of the nut, the soul of the text. What heavens are laid up in Jesus!
What rivers of infinite bliss have their source, ay, and every drop of their
fulness in Him! Since, O sweet Lord Jesus, Thou art the present portion of Thy
people, favour us this year with such a sense of Thy preciousness, that from its
first to its last day we may be glad and rejoice in Thee. Let January open with
joy in the Lord, and December close with gladness in Jesus.
Morning and Evening Index
