David said in Psalm 34:1, “I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Much like anything decision we make in life, praising God is always a choice. Even during difficult seasons, we can choose to praise God or we can choose to allow fear and worry to control our hearts and minds, or we can choose to praise the Lord and confess that He is in control.
One of the first biblical scripture my beloved twin brother broke down and helped me commit to memory was Ecclesiastes 7:13-14 and it reads, “Consider the work of God: who can make straight what He has made crooked? In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after Him.”
Solomon had his share of challenges but much like his daddy David, he too found that lifting his voice of praise to God amid difficult times was not always easy, but it was the only viable choice to make (Psalm 138:1).
My brothers and sisters, when we choose to praise the Lord even in hard times, at least three things happen: praise will shift our focus from ourselves to God (Psalm 42:21), praise will remind us that God is in control (Isaiah 41:10), and praise will become confession (release) of our dependence on God (Pslam 56:3-4).
I get it, praising God in the heat of the battle may not seem natural, and you may feel uncomfortable, but go ahead and praise God. Don’t fake it, be honest. God already knows your heart, so if you don’t feel like praising Him, tell Him, but praise Him anyway.
After you made the decision to praise Him anyway, verbalize your praise. Praise is meant to be heard. HALLELUJAH!! Don’t praise Him silently, praise Him openly and verbally. There is something powerful about hearing your own voice praise and worship the Lord.
Still not there yet? Well, I invite you to think back at God’s work in your life in the past and if nothing else praise Him for always coming through in the nick of time! You see, part of praise is reviewing or like Solomon stated, ‘consider’ God’s faithfulness in the past. As you review His goodness and provision in the past, you will find new strength to face the problems of today.
Again, I beseech (encourage) you to fill your life with praise to the Lord and I pray that in the difficult times of life that you will choose to lift your voice in praise because God doesn’t deserve anything less!
4GIVEN 