Hope in Praise

 

    Praise God in hope today. Praising our God for His loving kindness, for His goodness, for our salvation, for His timing, for His footsteps and guidance moving ahead of our thoughts and emotions may be difficult. But, praise lifts us into the throne room of heaven, far above all that we see, hear and feel.

     Psalm 42 is filled with words of despair and heartache and crying out to God. Are you going through a time of heartache and grief? God can take all of our feelings and fears, our worries and weakness and there we find hope. As we read through the Psalms and hear David’s voice in the singing, the praises, the despair, the cries for forgiveness, we hear the humanity, the emotion in living life.

     Even in the midst and, most often, near the end of each Psalm there is always a turning to God, with phrases like, “even now,” “and yet,” “I will yet praise Him.” And in the middle of David’s cries, see how he turns again to his God.

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.  Psalm 42:5

     Wherever you are today, praise God. Even if you feel hopeless and helpless, praise Him. Praise Him for His creation, for His love, for His forgiveness, for working ahead of you, for the hope of eternity. Sometimes praise is sacrificial. It may seem impossible. The writer of Hebrews understood this.

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise-the fruit of lips that openly profess His name.  Hebrews 13:15

   God honors our praise as we trust Him through the darkness. The sacrifice of praise will give you hope when there seems to be none and we just may offer a witness and testimony to others.

Dear Lord,

We praise You for Your Son, for Your unending love, for Your understanding heart, for Your compassion. For all of these things and more, we praise Your holy name.

Through Jesus, our Savior

Amen