Praise God for Blessings and Burdens

[William Richard Ezell]

Praise God for Blessings and Burdens By Rick Ezell “Praise the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul. I will praise the Lord all my life. I will sing praise to my God as long as I live” (Psalm 146:1-2 NIV). There is an emphatic ring as the Psalmist’s soul or his inner being praises the God of the universe. The Psalmist told his readers to praise God and he told his readers that he praised God. He practiced what he preached. It was his way of saying I will praise God as long as I live or for the rest of my life. His praise for God would never end. He would praise God while he lived until he had no breath. The Psalmist said that he would praise God everyday for everything forever. Praise is a very important word in the Bible, especially the Psalms. What does praise mean? Praise is more than just acknowledging God for the good that comes our way. Praise is accepting from God all that comes our way, both the good and the bad. And, in this context, we praise God for both people who love us and annoy us. In the dictionary the word praise means to extol, honor, acclaim, expressing approval. To praise, then, is to give positive affirmation, expressing our approval, of all that comes our way. That means that we, if we are obedient to this scriptural teaching, are to praise God for the bad, as well as the good, as a part of God’s plan for our lives. Let me point out that the praise we offer when things don’t go our way and the people that bug us is far more precious to God than the praise we offer when all is well and for the people who love and support us. Why is that? Praise takes our minds off our problems, even our problems with people, and focuses our minds on God. It gives God the right to rule and to reign in our lives how he sees fit. It acknowledges that God knows more about what he is doing than we do. It accepts that God can take all the bad stuff of life, even when people who hurt us and let us down, and make something beautiful out of it. It causes us to take our perspective off the earthly and put it on the heavenly. It causes us to consider and to appreciate God’s character. Some of you are probably thinking, So what you are saying is that I am to praise God for the bad stuff as well as the good? Yes. That’s what the Bible teaches. Let me tell you a story. Jim’s father was an alcoholic. He had been one for thirty years. As a teenager Jim never knew which Dad would come home at night: the sober and gentle one or the drunk and mean one. Jim, along with the rest of his family, lived with his father’s physical abuse, foul mouth, exploding temper, inconsistent manner for thirty years. For most of those years Jim’s mother, and later Jim and his wife, had prayed that God would heal his dad, but with no apparent result. Jim’s father refused to admit that he had a problem with alcohol, and stalked out in anger if anyone ever mentioned religion to him. One day Jim heard about the power that is released when one begins to praise God for everything, accepting the good and the bad, instead of pleading with God to change the circumstances and the people that hurt us. So Jim, along with his wife, began to praise God for his father’s alcoholism. They began praising God on Saturday. The next day, Sunday, Jim’s parents came over for the usual Sunday dinner visit. Always before, Jim’s father had cut the visit as short as possible, leaving right after dinner. This time, over a cup of coffee, Jim’s dad asked a pointed question: “What do you think about the spiritual hunger of so many people in our country? I saw something on the news last night. Is it just a fad or is it real?” The question led to a lengthy and open discussion about Christianity. Jim’s parents did not leave until late in the evening. Within weeks Jim’s father came to admit his drinking problem and the pain he had caused so many people. He turned to Jesus for help and was completely healed. Jim said later, “For thirty years I prayed for God to change Dad. We spent only one day praising God for the situation and look what happened!” Praise God for the bad stuff will be difficult. Following Jesus is never easy. Obeying the Bible is never a cake walk. To be honest, I think it was hard for the Psalmist to put this principle of praise into action, too. When you read the Psalms you know the Psalmist had running feuds with his enemies and the people who were out to get him. That’s why; I think, the Psalmist employed the word praise four times in the first two verses. I picture him like the little child, knowing he should do something difficult, saying, “I will do it . . . I will do it . . . I will do it . . . I will do it.” The Psalmist is saying, “I will praise God . . . I will praise God. . . I will praise God . . . I will praise God.” Try praising God. See what a difference it will make in your life.