By J.A. Medders
You’ve heard people say laughter is the best medicine. While I’m not a doctor, nor have I played one on TV, I know laughter isn’t strong enough for most of the situations we face in life. Do you know what Scripture often prescribes as an ideal medicine for hard times? Singing. Specifically, praising God in spite of the darkness around us. And often, this is just what we need to do.
Many men are prone to ignore the difficulties they face. We’re good at acting like everything’s just fine. Our culture sees this as a sign of strength. Grit your teeth, keep your head down, man up, and get through it. As men of God, this is the worst thing we could do.
God invites us to stop acting like everything is fine. We need to see our sufferings. We need to see the temptations around us and discover the gospel hope we have in Christ alone. Here in Isaiah, Israel is facing some legitimate threats from Cyprus. God doesn’t tell them to plow ahead as though nothing is going on. No, he tells them to sing.
Is worshiping God a part of your arsenal when hard times hit? Singing is a supernatural reflex. Learn this holy habit. Even if you are tone deaf, learn to sing to God.
When hard times come, instead of gritting our teeth we should open our mouths and sing a song of faith. Instead of keeping our heads down, we should look up to the heavens and praise our great God and Savior. We should praise Him for our salvation. We should praise Him for the cross. We should praise Him for the empty tomb. We should praise Him for victory over sin. We’ve got more reasons to sing than we have to sit quietly or stew in our misery.
Whatever you are facing, you may think ignoring it or downplaying it will help you get through. It won’t. But worship will. When you sing a new song of praise to God, even when the background music is not ideal, you learn how to plowing forward in joy. Real joy.
Written by J. A. Medders
One thought on "A Song of Praise"
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The Israelites are stuck in the same rut I fall into, they keep reliving the glory days and stop trusting God with what is to come.
“Forget about what’s happened;
don’t keep going over old history.
Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.
It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?
There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,
rivers in the badlands.
Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’
— the coyotes and the buzzards —
Because I provided water in the desert,
rivers through the sun-baked earth,
Drinking water for the people I chose,
the people I made especially for myself,
a people custom-made to praise me.”
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