Psalm 34 begins “I will praise the Lord at all times, his praised will always be on my lips.” As I was reading that psalm this morning, two words jumped out of me; ALL and ALWAYS. I know in my own life I find it easy to praise God when everything is up and to the right. In those seasons of life when everything seems to be going great, how can we not praise God?
But what about the hard seasons? Most of us are going to go through seasons in our lives when it feels like a battle. Relational struggles. Significant health concerns. Financial setbacks. Wayward children. If we are to say as David did “his praise will always be on our lips” how do we do that? Here are a few thoughts.
DayCamp at our Sandown campus begins this coming Monday!
First, we should remind ourselves that we praise God because he is worthy. He is the creator of all. He is the giver of life. He's always worthy our praise.
We must also remember that regardless of our circumstances, God is always there for us. He will never leave us or forsake us. He carries us through every season of life and we praise him for his faithfulness.
And we are mindful that our struggles are temporary, but his blessings are eternal. Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, made out of love for us, we have promise of eternity in his presence. We will experience the glory of God forever.
Even our best seasons will not compare to the greatness of what we will experience in eternity. And our most difficult seasons are but a moment when seen from the point of view of eternity. So I say with David “at all times” and “always.” No matter what we may experience in this imperfect world, God is good and he is always worthy of our praise.
We are in the middle of a GREAT series built on clips from the Toy Story movies. I have to say, for what seem to be children’s movies, they are leading us into some pretty powerful and significant conversation. I look forward to us all being together this Sunday as we continue the series.
God Bless,
Pastor Steve