diff --git a/common/changes/@microsoft/rush/fix-rush-sdk-loading-issue_2023-03-30-19-19.json b/common/changes/@microsoft/rush/fix-rush-sdk-loading-issue_2023-03-30-19-19.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..35bc3cd862a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/changes/@microsoft/rush/fix-rush-sdk-loading-issue_2023-03-30-19-19.json
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+{
+  "changes": [
+    {
+      "packageName": "@microsoft/rush",
+      "comment": "Fix an issue where rush-sdk sometimes failed to load if the globally installed Rush version was older than rushVersion in rush.json (GitHub #4039)",
+      "type": "none"
+    }
+  ],
+  "packageName": "@microsoft/rush"
+}
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/libraries/rush-lib/src/utilities/SetRushLibPath.ts b/libraries/rush-lib/src/utilities/SetRushLibPath.ts
index ec18843e67b..236a8b89f25 100644
--- a/libraries/rush-lib/src/utilities/SetRushLibPath.ts
+++ b/libraries/rush-lib/src/utilities/SetRushLibPath.ts
@@ -2,11 +2,9 @@ import { PackageJsonLookup } from '@rushstack/node-core-library';
 
 import { EnvironmentVariableNames } from '../api/EnvironmentConfiguration';
 
-if (!process.env[EnvironmentVariableNames.RUSH_LIB_PATH]) {
-  const rootDir: string | undefined = PackageJsonLookup.instance.tryGetPackageFolderFor(__dirname);
-  if (rootDir) {
-    // Route to the 'main' field of package.json
-    const rushLibIndex: string = require.resolve(rootDir, { paths: [] });
-    process.env[EnvironmentVariableNames.RUSH_LIB_PATH] = rushLibIndex;
-  }
+const rootDir: string | undefined = PackageJsonLookup.instance.tryGetPackageFolderFor(__dirname);
+if (rootDir) {
+  // Route to the 'main' field of package.json
+  const rushLibIndex: string = require.resolve(rootDir, { paths: [] });
+  process.env[EnvironmentVariableNames.RUSH_LIB_PATH] = rushLibIndex;
 }