Do You Praise God in Your Problems?

“‘O LORD God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven, and do You not rule over all the kingdoms of the nations, and in Your hand is there not power and might, so that no one is able to withstand You? Are You not our God, who drove out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and gave it to the descendants of Abraham Your friend forever? And they dwell in it, and have built You a sanctuary in it for Your name, saying, “If disaster comes upon us—sword, judgment, pestilence, or famine—we will stand before this temple and in Your presence (for Your name is in this temple), and cry out to You in our affliction, and You will hear and save.”’”

2 CHRONICLES 20:6-9

 

PONDER THIS

The prophet of God said, “the battle is not yours, but God’s” (see 2 Chronicles 20:15). But you have a part: your part is praise, and you’re not going to hide until it’s all over. A lot of us would have said, “God, when it’s all over, when we have the victory, we’ll praise You for it.” But God says, in effect, “Oh, no. The battle is Mine, not yours. But you’re not going to hide till it’s over. You’re going to have to praise at the beginning, not at the conclusion.”

You can’t praise after it’s over because it won’t be over until you begin to praise. Here are two things praise will do: praise infuses the energy of God, and praise confuses the enemies of God. When you begin to praise, God’s energy fills you, brings you strength, and defends you against the enemy.

I wonder, have you learned to praise God in your problems? You say, “I can’t praise God in the middle of my problems.” Then you will have to live with them, or you can praise God and see Him move.

Who have you seen praise God in the middle of their problems? What did you learn from them?

When have you struggled with praising God in the middle of your problems?

PRACTICE THIS

Talk to someone you have seen praise God even while facing problems and ask how to do it!

John Piper