Praise the Lord?

 “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13, NIV84)

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” (John 14:27, NLT)

“So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”” (Hebrews 13:6, NLT)

“The Lord is my light and my salvation— whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life— of whom shall I be afraid?” (Psalm 27:1, NIV84)

“When I am afraid, I will trust in you.” (Psalm 56:3, NIV84)

Five times the Psalmist says the same thing, “The LORD is with me why should I be afraid?

Because we are human.

I have a friend who has been in a very dark and difficult time for 3+ weeks. Her brother is in hospital and finally starting to make more steps forward than backward. Several times in the last 3 weeks she thought she’d never see him alive again. She couldn’t visit him in person due to COVID restrictions. All she could do was wait at home; wait to hear if this day he would move forward or backward. Three agonizing weeks of waiting. Was she afraid? You bet she was. But here’s what she said. “I learned what it means to praise the Lord in the midst of a dark and difficult time, a time of not knowing what sort of news I would hear next time the phone rang or a message pinged on my phone. I’ve learned that God’s presence is not determined by our circumstances. I learned that I can praise him even when life is unimaginably difficult. And that when I praise him, the darkness fades away and joy replaces it.”

I was humbled by her attitude. She was showing us the way to navigate this uncertain time. Through her tears she witnessed to God’s amazing love and comfort, way beyond anything she had ever experienced before. It took this trauma to take her to a deeper place of intimacy with God.

Then she prayed for our group of friends:  “As we enter this Christmas season may we be willing to adjust and look for God, to be willing to glorify Him even if things are different than we’d hoped, and may we enjoy His presence in new ways.”

Can I practice this sort of attitude of praise to God if I can’t have my family home for Christmas? If it’s just my husband and me? My home is decorated more beautifully than ever before. I’d love to share it with others. What if I offer it as a gift of my creativity to my Father? What if He’s the only one who sees it?

What do I have to let go of so my hands will be empty enough to receive a special blessing from God during this Christmas season? After all is Christmas not about his Son rather than about me/us?  Well, it is about us in that Jesus came to be born so that we could be in relationship with God. So yes, it is about us, but on the other hand, it is so not about us. It is not about the way things have always been. And if we are grieving about losing what’s always been, maybe it’s time things shift. How can God do a new thing if we tenaciously hang on to what is comfortable, the same?

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” (Isaiah 43:19, NIV84)

My friend had times of fear and doubt. She grieved and shed many a tear. It was all she could do to keep herself from getting in her car and demand they let her in to see her only sibling. Have you ever experienced that feeling of helplessness? Deep down we know there’s nothing we can do to make things better, but we sure try. And when trying is blocked, frustration sets in. It is easy to take it out on those around us. It is easy to blame God. Why doesn’t he just fix it if he’s sovereign?!

The new rules are abundantly clear. There will be no in-person parties. No hustle and bustle. What if this is all part of God's plan to draw us closer to Him? What if God is answering all those prayers said, “I wish Christmas wasn’t so crazy.” What if we are being called to still our souls and praise Him for who He is and what He has done for us?

I think He’ll understand if we do so through our tears and sobs. To be honest I have cried quite a bit. I miss my kids and grandkids. We can’t even visit my husband’s parents and they live just a few blocks away from us. We too are grieving. We, like my friend, have gone through some other very traumatic seasons and have learned the power of praising the Lord in the midst of the storm. Praising the Lord doesn’t make the outer storm any less frightening, but it does bring comfort and peace to my inner storm as it changes my focus.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13, NIV84)