One of the easiest things that happens when you're working through something difficult in life is that you get overwhelmed by the bad in the situation. Or, as I referred to it in a previous post, it's like when you are sliding down a waterslide and the water splashes up into your face at the very end. You close your eyes to keep the water from getting in. Once you're off the slide, you come up out of the water and blink your way back into reality.
That's what happens during difficult times. You get overwhelmed. And today I remembered the phrase "praise stills the enemy."
It comes from Psalm 8:2, "Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have established strength because of Your foes, that You might silence the enemy and the avenger." Also Matthew 21:16 "And they said to Him, Do You hear what these are saying? And Jesus replied to them, Yes; have you never read, Out of the mouths of babes and unweaned infants You have made (provided) perfect praise?"
Strength comes when you praise. This morning when I started to praise, it reminded me of how big God is and brought a certain joy to me because it caused me to stop thinking about the problems around me.
When I taught in the junior high ministry at my church, I used the example that if you put your Bible in front of your face, that's all you can see. If I hold my Bible out at arm's length, I can the Bible plus everything around it. The closer it is to me, the more my vision is filled with it.
The same is true in life. Praise causes you to bring God into closer view and causes the other things in your life to pale in comparison.
Oh and what exactly is praise? I like to define it as "making God big." When you praise Him, you make much of the power and might that He has... and as you do that, you remind yourself that He's bigger than whatever you are facing.
If you're going through a difficult situation, try praising God. I guarantee it will help.
No comments:
Post a Comment