Praising God No Matter What

This week, I have been amazed once again, at the testimony of God's grace through His people. A dear family that we know lost their husband/father in March. His brother and his father passed away shortly after. It has been so tough for this family. I asked the wife, my friend Suzanne, if I could share some of her story, and she was more than willing to allow me the opportunity.

Suzanne has been going back through a Bible study that several ladies did together in the spring called “Stepping Up” by Beth Moore. One of the very last lessons discusses II Chronicles 20, where King Jehoshaphat finds out that a huge number of enemies were coming to battle against him and defeat Judah. Even though he was fearful, he immediately realized his power came from God and focused his eyes there (v12). He actually appointed people to go before his army and sing praises to the Lord before they even won (v21-22)!!! When they began to sing and praise, God brought victory against an impossible situation. After Suzanne studied this, she made a deliberate decision (and told her kids) that they were going to “praise God no matter what”. On Monday, they received devastating news that a home they own in SC burnt down. Guess what she is doing?Yep, praising God no matter what….

Suzanne shared with me that she is already in awe of how God is going to work this out for good. Beth Moore says it this way in the lesson: “To stand in the presence of the Lord when you’d rather go to bed and never get up, and to praise Him in the night when taunting voices tell you to curse Him—these things are nothing less than a battle cry of victory…..Victory will come because the praise itself renders the first blow to the enemy’s brow.”

Psalm 121 is the passage we memorized in this Bible study. The song playing on my blog list titled "Praise you in this Storm" even includes lines from this Psalm. I pray it encourages you today.

Psalm 121

1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from?

2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber;

4 indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you-- the Lord is your shade at your right hand;

6 the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life;

8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.