"It is not because things are good that we are to thank the Lord, but because He is good."-Hannah Whitall Smith from The God of All Comfort.
This throws the gauntlet down to my flesh when life's mountains seem insurmountable. The passages that deal with praise in the Bible are numerous, and yet can seem hollow when we are blinded by our emotional states. Human weakness and the limits of our understanding can chain us to the dark side of the moon. Praise breaks us out of those chains and propels us towards the joy of the Lord; which is our strength.
I admit to being an emotional creature with marked intensities and a streak of the melancholy firmly rooted within the constraints of my personality. The Lord has His reasons for creating each of us with our temperaments, and we often fail to thank God for His wisdom in giving us what we have in that department. The grass is always greener; careening our gaze towards comparison with others and thinking that their temperament gives them an edge over us.
In light of today being the day that the Lord has made, I am going to try to rejoice in the God of all comfort. Lifting up that sacrifice of praise will raise my dry bones out of the grave into the awareness of His presence.
Have a cup o'joy,
Lynne
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2 comments:
Amen. Sometimes our praise can only be intentional- an act we do hoping and trusting that peace and joy will follow if we lift up our hands and voices in faith. I'll join it your praise from over here in Waterford:)
Sometimes praise does seem like a sacrifice; yet what are we sacrificing? I could stand to sacrifice a measure of self-pity, anger and resentment in order to shift gears and lift up my hands in praise...getting chilly over here...gotta go...:)
Have a cup o'joy,
Lynne
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