Praise God in the Waiting

I have not written on this blog in years. In fact, it’s been a long time since I have even been on this blogging platform. Interestingly enough, I have spent the last several days re-reading and pondering my old posts because the truths that I wrote about four to five years ago still apply. It is amazing that God is still teaching me the same lessons over and over again, and reading my words from the old me was somehow such an encouragement to my present self.

Well, where do I even begin?

The past year has been difficult, to say the least. A tragic, abrupt death of a close friend. My family split into two time zones. A loved one being diagnosed with cancer. An unexpected global pandemic. Shattered dreams of a future that I thought was so secure.

There have been plenty of sleepless nights for me lately (and as I’m typing this, tonight is one of them). Yet despite the waves of my emotions of grief, anxiety, and helplessness, I cannot help but be in awe of God. He is clearly at work in my life. He is calling me to surrender and relinquish control. This sorrow is not wasted; this pain is clearly for a purpose. These trials are for my good and somehow God is redeeming all of my suffering for His glory.

My friend, musicgoon, recently gifted me a book titled “Mercy For Today: A Daily Prayer from Psalm 51” by Jonathan Parnell, which may be very well be on its way to becoming one of my favorite new books for the year. In one of the chapters, Parnell says,

We might think that the miry bog is the place of waiting, not worship. We might think that worship comes after deliverance, and indeed, sometimes it does. In Psalm 40, David sings,

I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD. (vv. 1-3)

Amen. God is able to rescue us from the pit, and we will sing his praise. Amen. But that doesn’t mean we sit out on his praise until the rescue comes. We can worship in the waiting. We can worship in the pit, neck deep in the bog, even smack-dab in the belly of a whale, or behind bars shackled by chains.

We know that Jonah was still figuring things out when he praised God from within the fish, and I can’t imagine that Paul and Silas were their emotional best when they sang hymns to God from the Philippian jail. And yet, in both cases, from within their troubles, before their deliverance, they worshipped God. They opened their mouths, and they spoke truth. And so can you.

It is so unnatural in our sinful human nature to give praise to God in times of great distress. It is so much easier to complain, to wallow in self-pity and pride, or be prone to bitterness and anger.

However, God has given us a mouth for a purpose and that purpose is to praise Him. He is a God that is greater than I can ever imagine, but He has given me His Word to learn about His truth.

In Psalm 51:15 (ESV), David says,

O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it; you will not be pleased with a burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

When my emotions are all over the place and I am having a hard time trusting that God’s plans are better than mine, I pray that my lips will continue to praise God. When I am afraid, I pray that my mouth will rejoice in gladness because God is my greatest hope, even when that hope remains unseen. In my weakness and sins, I pray that I can loudly proclaim God’s mercy, grace, and faithfulness in my life. The greatest reason I can sing and shout his praises is because God has sovereignly gifted me with Himself.

Despite my deep sorrows, I must obey and praise God because Christ will forever remain the sure and steady anchor of my soul, the joy of my salvation.