Why am I restless?
I trust you!
And I will praise you again
because you help me,
and you are my God.
The last post disclosed my favorite professional catch phrases that I tend to use, and sometimes, over use. As a Christian, I believe we have "catch phrases" that roll off out tongue without any deep thought or consideration. Sadly, one of those may be "praise the Lord".
If any of you have ever seen the movie "Facing the Giants", you will recall when the Cinderella high school team lost a heartbreaking game, the coach told his players to praise God in defeat just as they would in victory. And, as the movie goes, an amazing second chance happened for the team and the loss did not count. The movie had a happy ending, just as one would expect from a Christian based film. I believe with all of my being that because I am a Christian, there will be a happy ending for me in eternity. It is the basic foundation of my Faith.
As humans, we struggle with a lot of plot twists in route to our happy ending. Sure, it is easy and natural to praise God when we are scoring touchdowns and much harder to do when we fumble in life or when we fall short. It is easy to praise Him when the day is going great and much more difficult to do when we wake up at 3 AM and immediately we feel the heartache and depression that reminds us we are in fact alive. Praising God is what we need to be doing when the back pain makes us miserable and legs and hips hurt and ache when we sit, stand or lay down. We should be praising Him when we dread our "dream" job because, well, nightmares are dreams, too. It is easy to praise God when we see our young child smile and laugh but is it as easy when we know we have an estrangement from another child who barely has spoken to us in 5 years?
When we confidently conquer any challenge in our life, saying "Praise the Lord" flows off our tongue without effort. When we are drowning in self doubt, disappointment and fear, do those words ring true in our heart and roll off our tongues? Is that not when we should be praising Him and praying more? Instead, as the carnage of life piles up, we become more distant and distracted from leaning on Him. Our failures and mistakes cloud our vision.
Heartache, physical pain, depression and disappointments are all part of the package of being human and as I said before, prove we are alive. The fact that we are alive gives us hope, even if it is a speck in an ocean of doubt, fear, worry, stress, and a million other experiences we would rather not face individually, not to mention in unison. Hope should immediately provoke praise that flows freely and more than counters the negative junk we are experiencing.
So (there is my word again), what do we do when everything that happens only complicates the bleak situation and produces more pain, depression, frustration, and uncertainty? In keeping it real, what do we do when the job stinks, finances are scary, and the bitter taste of defeat and failure makes you sick? For me, I am going to praise God, put on my running shoes, and force myself to remember that God loves me when things are good or bad, happy or sad, and that the glint of hope I can see through the fog of life proves that He is not done with me yet.
Praising God through the good and bad is harder than some think. Like you said when things are are the way we want them, that is the first thing most of us think, there is a God and he is looking upon us. When things are not going the way we feel they should, we are being punished, he is not looking down on his. In the last year I have learned that God is always looking down on me and he is not a punishing God but a God of great love and forgivenesss. Saying "Praise the Lord" or "Thank you Lord" in the good times and bad should and can become an automatic thought. I had to learn this the hard way because I am a very stubborn person and had my own stinking thinking. Now I have the words taped to my mirrors, in my car, on the back of my cell phone and several other places because thanking God should come before thanking anyone else.
ReplyDeleteI have come to a place where I believe that I may fail, others I look to may fail. Of course that is true. We are human. We are imperfect. We will fall short and miss the mark. But God...never fails...ever. I thank Him for the opportunity to live another day every morning and every night and several times in between. Every minute of every day is a gift. I may not always make the most of those opportunities, but they are always there. I may not always understand, but His ways are not my ways. And His ways are perfect. Good post!!!
ReplyDelete