I love the word glad. The Merriam-Webster simple definition is “feeling pleasure, joy, or delight; very willing to do something; causing happiness and joy.” It also carries the idea of preparedness.
Scripture commands us to be glad. And there are multiple occurrences of that command in our Bibles.
“Let the heavens rejoice, and let the earth be glad; And let them say among the nations, ‘The LORD reigns.’” [1 Chron 16:31 NKJV]
“The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad; let the distant shores rejoice.” [Ps 97:1 NIV]
If there is any reason at all to be glad it is this, “The Lord Reigns.” Heavens are to rejoice. The earth is to be glad. Even the distant shores (in Scripture the USA is probably a ‘distant shore’) are rejoicing.
There is no place where the Lord does not reign. It may not appear to our natural eyes to be so, but it is so. “And the redeemed of the Lord are to say so!” [Psalm 107:2 NKJV]
Kings and queens, presidents and prime ministers, dictators and despots will all come and go, but the Lord God Almighty still reigns over all of the heavens and the earth. Whatever the outcome of elections, the Lord reigns. Whatever freedoms are granted or taken away, the Lord reigns. Whether abiding in prosperity under good rulers or slavery under evil ones, the Lord reigns.
Just thinking about that today is more than enough to be glad and rejoice!