Last Monday we read the story of Hannah and I wrote about her two prayers: one was her pouring out her heart of affliction and the other was her pouring out her heart of praise. Be careful what you write because sometimes God will test you with it. He did just that this week for me. Wednesday night I found myself dealing with some very all-consuming pain (physical). Thursday morning it had increased and by Thursday night I was miserable. I lay in bed that night and thought about Hannah's prayers. It was easy for me to know how to pour out my soul to the Lord and how to lay my pain on the altar of grace, but to praise him out of thanksgiving in the midst of that pain was a different story. I lay there and could not determine how to give prayers of praise to my God who was deserving of that and so much more. I know he is a loving God, he is a faithful God, he is a generous God, he is an all powerful God, he is a God who delights in blessing us, a God who knows our sufferings and sorrows, a God who knows the plans he has for us and that they are plans for a hope and a future not for harm. These are easy to write and believe now but when I was in the midst of my pain I found it very challenging to utter these words with 100% confidence that they were meant for me and my life. I felt afflicted and joy was truly nowhere to be found in my heart.
I have read, seen and heard the tears of pain from so many in our church family and beyond this past week. Illness, death, addiction, betrayal, loved ones living in darkness, uncertainty of the future, broken homes, decaying marriages, the vice grip of sins past that keep some locked away from the love of Christ. This is a short list of intense all-consuming pains that each of us deals with in our lives at some point or another. Pains that make it very difficult to determine how to praise an awesome God and give him thanks for all he is and all he does. How can I give back to God what he deserves, my praise and thanks, when my heart and body is gripped with pain? I know that it begins with giving the pain to God but I found in today's reading another very important step that can not be overlooked and it applies to everyone, it requires everyone to participate: those going through pain right now and those who are not.
My soul will boast in the LORD; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the LORD with me; let us exalt his name together." Psalm 34:2-3
When I am in the pit of despair I not only need to call on others to pray prayers of healing for my body and spirit but I need others to stand next to me and lift up the prayers of praise and thanksgiving that I am unable to utter at those moments. I need to hear that which my voice is incapable of forming. When you hear of my affliction, of the affliction of any of God's children, we need you to step to our sides and be a voice for us. Help us to Glorify the LORD with you and to exalt his name together. You may be speaking the words but my heart will able to see and do that which my voice is not able to do. There will come a time when the roles will be reversed and I will run to your side and speak the truths that may be difficult for you to utter in the midst of your pain.
So I want to take a moment and be a voice for those of you who are suffering right now and I know that there are many of you. You don't have to say anything, just stand next to me now and let us, together, Glorify the LORD and exalt his name.
"Oh LORD, you are the author and perfect of our faith. There are times when we feel weak, when we feel helpless and hopeless. It is in those times that I often feel you closest. This is not because I have moved closer to you but because in your great love for me you have drawn close to my heart so that I will not feel abandoned in my struggle. LORD you could have left us in the darkness that we created, our sins, but because of your great love for us you came and made a way for us to be reconciled to you. You tore the veil of sin that separated us from you and made a way for us to draw near to you in our times of need. It is from your great strength that we rely on you for strength. It is in that strength that we will endure and rise up and exalt your might, your power, your goodness, your grace in our lives. LORD we know that you were despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces you were despised. You know the pains we suffer and you are standing with us in our suffering. But, praise you oh God our savior because we know that even your sufferings did not last forever therefore neither will ours. Your sufferings were temporary and out of them came much reason to celebrate, out of them came the hope and the future that you have planned for us. Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In your great mercy you have given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for us, who through faith are shielded by your power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this we greatly rejoice, though now for a little while we may be suffering grief in all kinds of trials. We know these have come so that our faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in the praise, glory and honor both now and when Jesus Christ is revealed. You are our God, and together we will give you thanks; you are our God, and together we will exalt you."
I want to encourage each of you to take a moment and either "reply all" to the blog (if that is even possible) or post onto this facebook thread more prayers of praise that will help our sisters and brothers who are struggle today to have a voice that may not be strong enough to lift up their praise on their own. Let's live out the verses in today's reading found in Psalm 34:2-3 and do this together now!
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