It shouldn't be, but things are such that for some of us it is.
Some of our churches, the "happy clappy" type mainly, teach us that praise and worship consist of feelings of euphoria and supernatural jubilation manifested in tingles and goosepumbs and sometimes even screams and jumps and more often than not what seems like a competition in speaking in tongues.
If you are not experiencing this, then there could be something wrong with you. You don't have enough faith, you don't love God enough, you are not a mature Christian, you have a cloud over you from some evil that's being projected to you, you could even be demon possessed or oppressed depending on who's preaching to you.
Don't' get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with dancing in the presence of the Lord, we know this from David and we know God loves us to experience everything with Him. There is also nothing wrong with speaking in tongues, but if you do not, that does not make you any less Christian or worthy of praising Him.
I sometimes think praising God has been made to be so complicated and ritualistic that the true purpose and meaning is lost. Praise is about exalting/lifting God up not what we get from it (although we never actually do anything that God doesn't reciprocate on and by virtue of that we receive). So I do feel that there are different manners of praise and they all have a place. Sometimes it is a heart conversation that expresses what our minds and bodies sometimes cannot, and we cannot even find the words for. It is having a certain conviction and joy in the knowledge that God Is God in everything and through everything. Sometimes praise is nothing more than that.
My own walk came to a screeching sort of stumble because of some terrible things in the last 2 years which excalated in th elast 12 months, but even going through them, in my heart, I kept telling myself, it can not go on forever, God is God, He is in control and I will get through this. I don't remember jumping for joy or shouting it at the top of my voice, or even being able to pray for the hours I used to when things were good. But that personal conviction and affirmation, was enough to help me rise up the next day and try once more.
A friend, reminded me recently that we were not promised a life without trouble. But because we have God, we have someone bigger and stronger than our circumstance.
And maybe this is the point of praise. Not necessarily because you have hope in that moment. Not because you have so much faith or even a little faith. And most assuredly at this point not even because you can see a glimpse of a better day tomorrow.
But simply because, no matter what you think or what state you are today, ou know in your heart...that God is alive and He is on the throne. He is God with you and still God without you and His Word holds true from everlasting to everlasting.
His Word contains His whole plan for your life, created when the universe had not even fathomed of your possible existence (Psalm 139). If this is true, then you must know that God knew that there would be moments in this life when you would be fighting to hang on to to both life and your sanity. At this time I am convinced that what we need is not always to hear the "good Christian" rhetoric, but simply need to keep saying:
Thank you Father, I praise you for this life of mine and for what you plan for it.
I praise You because with or without my understanding your plans always work out for my good.
I praise You because when everything is dark and cold and it feels like only I am going through it, I still know that you are God and come what may, you prevail.
And even when You ask me if I believe that You can change things and like Ezekiel I say:“Sovereign Lord, you alone know.” you continue to be God. For this I praise you
Another thing my friend said in the context of not wavering in your walk and doing the right always despite the situation...she said His word is Yay and Amen. In that conversation it interpretation was more along the lines of obedience,
And in the course of meditating on this Word, Yay and Amen, it seemed clear to me that those words are applicable in the context of this message too. The Bible says" Who can say a thing and it comes to pass when the Almighty has not commanded it?" Lamentations 3:37
And indeed the truth is that His plans for you are for good and not for evil, and to prosper you just as your soul prospers Paul said. This is what He has said Yes and Amen to.
Therefore all that hope, faith and looking forward to better things we think one needs to have first in order to be a good Christian or child of God...are all things we will receive as we praise Him because we trust Him to be God....no matter where we we, or who we are in that moment.
From what I have been through and seeing how God has taken me through it and brought me to the other side, I have come to realize that were it by my own strength, faith and hope, I would not have made it. Because by earthly Christian standards I am not worthy.
But my God's standards which are infallible and yet full of compassion, here I am, on the other side and He was God through it and will remain God after.........
So my word this morning is..... In times when you cannot breath because you are so hurt, you can not find the words to pray because you are so angry, when you cannot even recognise yourself because you feel so bitter from betrayal....Praise Him for being God... see what he does in spite of you....
