很多基督徒认为这段经文太富挑战性了，以致他们很难思念它。但正如我们曾经说过：逃避不会有出路。我曾经收过一封信，信中提出这么一个问题：「保罗的意思真的是要我们常常喜乐吗？他的意思会不会是有的时候喜乐呢？这会否是翻错了？」不是，那不是翻错了，那是使徒的话，是真实和准确的翻译。

但我们真的可能常常喜乐吗？我相信这是可能做到的。秘诀就是，唯有我们凡事都看到神，才能够凡事保持喜乐。有些人也许会觉得很难接受而提出说：「有些事情是来自魔鬼，你这句话怎能应用到那些事情上去？」不错，神确实可能不在某些事情的开头，但祂肯定会在事情的过程中。你所遇到的境况或困难可能源自魔鬼，但到了事情临到、或你在经历时，就会有神的目的在其中了。

有一位年老的姊妹祈求要有面包，一些顽皮的男孩听到她的祷告后决定要作弄她，于是他们爬上屋顶把面包从烟囱里抛了下去。老姊妹看到面包高声喊说：「赞美主，神听了我的祷告。」那些男孩跑来敲她的门，告诉她说：「不是神给妳面包，是我们给的。」老姊妹笑着回答说：「那可能是魔鬼带来的，不过它却是受了神的差遣」。事情不论来自哪里，当它发生在你身上的时候，你都可以肯定是有神的允许在其中。因此，它便能够从本来是麻烦的来源，转而成为得胜的源头。

Many Christians find this text so challenging that they cannot allow their minds to focus on it. But as we have been saying - evasion will never get us anywhere. A letter I once received asked: "Did Paul really mean we should rejoice at all times? Didn't he mean sometimes? Can this be a mistranslation?" No, it is not a mistranslation - it is a true and accurate translation of the apostle's words.

But is it really possible to rejoice at all times? I believe it is. Here's the secret: we can rejoice in everything only to the extent that we see God in everything. Some might have difficulty with this, and respond: "There are some things which come from the devil; how can what you say be applied to that?" It is true that God may not be in the genesis of something, but He can certainly be in its exodus. Your circumstances or problems may have begun with the devil, but by the time they get to you and through you, they have a divine purpose running through them.

An old lady was praying for bread. Some boys, hearing her, decided to play a trick on her. They climbed up on her roof and threw some loaves down the chimney. "Praise the Lord," shouted the old lady, "God has heard my prayer." The boys then knocked on her door and said: "But it was not God who gave you the bread - it was us." She laughingly replied: "Well, the devil may have brought it, but it was God who sent it." Wherever an event comes from, by the time it gets to you, you can be sure it has got God's permission - and thus has the potential of becoming not a source of trouble but a source of triumph.