Praising God in the Storm
“I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works. I will be glad and rejoice in thee: I will sing praise to thy name, O thou most High.”
What lovely verses, but if I'm honest, I have to admit I wasn't feeling much like praising this morning. Nope! After the week I've had, I felt a lot more like whining and complaining. Allow me to set the scene.
After a busy weekend, we began the week, knowing it would be a bit crazy and hectic. On Monday, I found out that I needed to substitute teach for my mother who has been dreadfully sick with the flu. I didn't mind, but there was so much to do, and I'm really not all that great with Biology (more on this in another post.) Anyway, I arrived home that night in time to finish up a few things and get to bed.
Early (like 3 a.m.) Tuesday morning, Jason left to travel to Atlanta for a work conference he was scheduled to attend. The plan was for him to be in class all day Tuesday and Wednesday then to drive home Wednesday evening. One night without him. I could do that.
But then came the snow storm. Oh yeah! Jason's Wednesday class was postponed until Thursday, which meant he had to stay an extra night. Barnabas, who was already growing more and more out of sorts because of the absence of his "daddy," didn't care for the weather conditions. Not only was it cold, but there were nearly four inches of snow on the ground, making our daily walk impossible. That meant extra anxious energy and no real outlet. Good times!
With Jason's absence at night, let's just say there has been very little sleep. Though my body is exhausted, I couldn't really relax, and neither could Barnabas, as it turned out. I spent Wednesday night on the couch, trying to soothe the nerves of both myself and Barnabas, which means I awoke Thursday morning feeling groggy, moody and completely out of sorts.
Then I opened my Bible and read the day's passage from Psalm 9. Praise? Be glad? Rejoice? My first thought was, You've got to be kidding me! But as I continued reading, I was reminded that God is good and worthy of my praise no matter how I feel. Just because the week hasn't been good doesn't mean God isn't. And just because I had a rotten attitude (yes, I know it's hard to believe) doesn't mean that I shouldn't offer up praise and thanksgiving for who God is and all that He has done for me. So, I began to praise, though I admit it didn't seem very heartfelt. At least, not at first. But the more I thanked God for His blessings and the more I thought about His character, the less grumpy I felt. It was as if the heavenly breezes were blowing away the clouds of despair and discouragement, leaving in their place a sunshiny (is that a word?) attitude of gratitude.
News flash: Not every day will be a good day. We may even have bad weeks, months or even years, and the truth is, those disappointing times often leave us feeling gloomy, frustrated and even bitter. But no matter how tough the season is, God is still good. No matter what we're going through, He is always with us, and that alone makes Him worthy of our praise. So, when we're feeling down, the best remedy is to worship the Lord, even if it seems insincere at first, because despair cannot remain in a grateful heart.
Having a bad day? You know what to do. You can gripe and complain (which won't solve the problem), or you can turn your attention to God and praise Him for all His marvellous works. What's it going to be?
[youtube=://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBj9NLPa2cs&w=854&h=480]