Scripture- “I will exalt you, my God the King; I will praise your name for ever and ever. Every day I will praise you and extol your name for ever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.” Psalm 145:1-3
Insight – – As we continue our look at how to gain unspeakable joy as a result of our relationship with Christ, it is important to remember how the Saints of the Bible turned to praising God to turn on their joy valve. King David is a great example of someone who knew how to find joy through intimacy and praise of God, even during extremely difficult times. In fact, you could argue that it was in praising God even when the external circumstances of his life probably didn’t warrant it that David found the most joy. He changed his focus from his problems on to God’s past faithfulness, goodness, power and love in order to create joy in his life.
The Psalms are filled with examples of David praising God and then basking in the joy that came as a result of that alignment in his faith journey. Psalm 145:1-3 above is a good example, but let’s look even closer at a few more from the Book of Psalms. Psalm 59:17 “You are my strength, I sing praise to you; you, God, are my fortress, my God on whom I can rely.” Here, David praised God for his strength and protection while on the run from King Saul. This brought him joy and peace. Psalm 68:19 “Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens.” David is being practical in his praise here for God carrying his daily burdens, which brings joy when we don;t have to be smothered under the weight of carrying them ourselves. Psalm 86:4 “Bring joy to your servant, Lord, for I put my trust in you.” David was so confident in his relationship with God that he actually would petition God to bring him joy when he felt depleted. Let’s face it, there are many times in our lives when we simply get beat up by life’s circumstances and we can’t manufacture joy on our own. In these times, we can mirror David and directly ask God to provide us with the joy we are seeking. I have found that if I am reading the Bible, a verse or a thought will enter my mind that can speak to my situation and turn my thoughts around from pain, worry, fatigue or fear to joy in the Lord. David ran to God to find joy in his life, usually through praising Him even when it was hard. We would be wise to do the same.
Prayer: Father God, thank you that we can come to you with honesty about our situations and praise you even in the midst of our storms in life and you somehow turn our sorrows to joy. We praise you for your compassions which are new every morning. Be with us Lord now more than ever. We need you. Amen!
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