“In the pride of their hearts, they want to find something of self to rejoice in; yielding to a spirit of legality, they look for happiness in their own experiences or attainments. But that is to miss the substance and chase the shadows. As it is with our natural eyes, so with our spiritual: they are designed to look at external objects and not internal ones, “Rejoice in the Lord”, and that “always,” (Phil. 4:4 ) is the delightful task which faith is to engage in. All real happiness is bound up in Him. Every other joy but that which issues from fellowship with the Lord is but a counterfeit one. That is sensual, as the rich fool’s “Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry,” (Luke 12:19); this is spiritual. The one is superficial and temporary; the other solid and lasting. The former comforts only in health and during a season of prosperity; whereas the latter sustains upon a bed of pain, cheers the soul in times of affliction, yea, enables its possessor to exult at the prospect of death.
Now this joy is not to be regarded as a luxury, but rather as a spiritual necessity. We are obligated to be glad in God. “- AW Pink.