Yesterday I was reading in my One Year Bible about the boldness of Josiah to reform his nation after decades of slipping. Every year when I read this story I wonder what it would take for God to send us a Reformer like that. But every year it seems like we slip a little further in the wrong direction.

Yet if you have even a single gray hair, you know that while good news rarely turns out to be as good as it first sounds, neither does bad news turn out to be as bad.

I’m sure we all find it very painful to watch as current events unfold in “Bible time” (“with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like a day”). I wish I had more say. We all do. But we don’t.

However, because we are Christians, we believe that God is sovereignly orchestrating all these human events – every circumstance, no matter how random or wrong it sounds. Therefore, we are not relegated to wringing our hands. Because of our doctrines of the fall and sin, this is the world we expected. That’s why we don’t need to join the chorus of ranting pessimists who are always angry because the world is going to pot. For us there is another way:

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).

So when you feel the urge to lash out, rejoice instead. Give thanks for ALL of your circumstances – even the ones that seem random and wrong. Why? Because it is God’s will for us to be joyful and grateful.

Like a beautiful smile, joy and gratitude attract people toward us like powerful magnets. They make people curious. They wonder, “Why is he like that?”

In the kingdom economy, “rejoicing always” and “giving thanks” is the investment capital that can keep the world from going bankrupt. It’s what we can do.

Besides, no one likes an angry prophet. Even if he’s right.