Weekly Reading – כִּי תָבוֹא – Ki Tavo – When You Come; Deuteronomy 26:1-29:8; Isaiah 60:1-22
Can the Bible truly command us to be joyful when our hearts are hurting? Our weekly reading speaks of a joy that apparently runs deeper than happiness and favorable life circumstances. Perhaps true joy does not arise from everything going well, but from the certainty of being in the right place and giving one’s own life a deeper meaning.
One of the verses in the portion Ki Tavo that one can hardly read past without pausing is: “Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart.” For many years I have reflected on this verse. Can a person truly be commanded to rejoice? And what if they are going through a difficult time? If their heart is hurting? Does the Bible actually require us to rejoice, even when we have no desire to do so whatsoever?
The longer I have engaged with this verse, the more I came to realize that it may not be about...
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