121. Rejoice in all you do
Deuteronomy 12:7, 18 And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that ye put you hand unto, ye and your households, wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee….And thou shalt rejoice before the Lord thy God in all that thou puttest thine hands unto.
Moses is telling the people that after they possess and are dwelling safely in the land that the Lord is giving them then they will worship the Lord in that place that He shall choose (it turns out to be Jerusalem). There, in that chosen place in the presence of the Lord, they will eat the sacrifices with the Lord, and they will rejoice in all that they put their hand to. The promise is that worshippers of the one and true Lord and God will rejoice in whatever it is they put their hand to do.
This promise also applies to NT believers who worship the Lord anywhere in spirit and in truth (not just at the Temple in Jerusalem). They worship in the presence of the Lord where two or three are gathered together in Jesus’ name. They eat the Lord’s Supper in fellowship with Jesus and one another. And then comes the promise: we shall rejoice in all that we put our hand to. In other words, we go to church and then go home and go about our lives doing whatever it is we do with glad and joyful hearts. We rejoice in whatever we are doing because the Lord is with us wherever we go and whatever we do (unless we go to an evil place or do a sinful thing). And all of life’s daily tasks and routine business is filled with rejoicing, because we have met with the Lord and he has forgiven and loved us. The Christian’s life is one of constant rejoicing. All of life is lived with God and in whatever we do we thank Him in all things. Such a life is possible, for such a life is promised. “Whatever you do, do it all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” “Rejoice in the Lord always.” Anything that the believer does is with thanks, praise, worship and rejoicing. If it isn’t with rejoicing He doesn’t do it. If it is sinful, he repents, receives forgiveness, and starts over afresh.