Be glad of heart, O believer! But take care that your gladness springs from the Lord. You have much cause for gladness in your God, for you can sing with David, "God, my exceeding joy!"

Be glad that the Lord reigns—that Jehovah is King! Rejoice that he sits upon the throne and rules all things! Every attribute of God should become a fresh ray in the sunlight of your gladness.

That he is wise should make you glad, knowing as you do your own foolishness. That he is mighty should cause you to rejoice, you who tremble at your weakness. That he is everlasting should always be a theme of joy when you know that you wither as the grass. That he is unchanging should perpetually yield you a song, since you change every hour.

That he is full of grace—that he is overflowing with it—and that this grace in covenant he has given to us! That it is ours to cleanse us, ours to keep us, ours to sanctify us, ours to perfect us, ours to bring us to glory—all this should make us glad in him!

This gladness in God is as a deep river. We have only touched its brink. We know a little of its clear, sweet, heavenly streams, but onward the depth is greater, and the current more impetuous in its joy.

The Christian delights not only in what God is, but also in all that God has done in the past. The Psalms show us that God's people in olden times loved to think much of God's actions, and to have a song concerning each of them. So let God's people now rehearse the deeds of the Lord! Let them tell of his mighty acts, and "sing unto the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously!"

Nor let them ever cease to sing! For as new mercies flow to them day by day, so should their gladness in the Lord's loving acts in providence and in grace show itself in continued thanksgiving.

Be glad, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God!