Praise the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens. Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness. -Psalm 150: 1, 2
The Word of God provides us with powerful insight as to how believers are to approach life with all its joys, blessings, problems, and trials: we praise the Lord and trust in Him no matter what. David said in Psalm 34, “I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” For King David of the Old Testament, a man familiar with trials, pain, grief, and blessings, he understood the importance of praising the Lord and exalting His mighty name at all times and no matter what. He found in God the power to praise God even in the midst of the worst kind of adversity.
Like David, we too can find the power to praise the Lord, trust in Him, and be thankful even in the midst of difficult and trying days. I’m not kidding around when I say that life is hard and will probably get harder for countless people. All of us will face trials of every kind. But even in the middle of the problems and trials we face we can still trust the Lord, find His strength, and experience His blessings. The Lord is with us and as He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us. The Bible teaches that we are to praise God in any and every way possible regardless of whatever circumstances we are facing. When all is well, praise the Lord. And when it appears that life is falling apart right before our eyes we are called to praise the Lord then as well.
That can be a real challenge can’t it? Praising God can be difficult when our hearts are filled with anything but gratitude. The challenge in God’s Word is to praise God right where we are no matter the circumstances of our lives. Now, the Lord did not tell us to do this for nothing, but rather the command carries with it a definite aim. When we praise the Lord despite our circumstances we are empowered to look beyond our problems to God’s greater power. God is far greater than any problem we will ever face. No problem is too big for God to handle and no problem is too small for God to handle. When we focus upon the problem we get discouraged. When we focus upon the Lord we find spiritual power and victory. This is an attitude that doesn’t give into defeat and discouragement. It’s an attitude that keeps us on our feet and moving the direction that the Lord intends.
By trusting the Lord at all times we are able to witness to those around us of the power of Christ working in us. We can show a lost and hurting world that we have problems as well, but by the power of Christ we will not surrender to them. We will then be faithful to what Jesus said about His light shining forth from our lives (Matthew 5:16).
No comments:
Post a Comment