Praising God through the Tears

Praising God through the Tears
November 12, 2009

Psalm 150:6 "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord."

Anthems of praise are easily sung when blessings abound. Yet, praising God in the midst of sorrow and through tears can be arduous. While the Christian seeks to praise Him, frequently it is done with mournful mouths. Admittedly, underlying our praise is the hope that our weeping will turn to joy.

Whenever praise is difficult for me, I try to envision my Savior and the incalculable sacrifice He made for the church. He willingly submitted His life to God in order to achieve pardon and redemption for you and me. This one act and remembrance should keep my hands raised in praise to Christ. Reluctantly, I must acknowledge that I can fail miserably when my focus is taken off Christ and redirected to my situation.

Lately, my thoughts have been on my first-born son, Bobby. His birthday is Monday. In attempts to take away the sorrow of not seeing him or hearing from him, I have tried to be busy in silly employment such as choosing to remember the past, a time before he was born. I decided to hunt up old photos from High School and reflect on an age when life seemed innocent and there were innumerable possibilities. And while this occupation provided much needed diversion and shared laughter with old friends, today I find that I must look again at life and loss.

I cannot pretend that all of life is blessed and that happiness far outweighs sadness in this world. The truth is that sometimes life simply hurts. But, I have the option of not allowing my mind to dwell on anguish. And, because I know that “faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen” I can experience true praise in this life.

Today, I choose to praise God because despite my heaviness of heart, He is worthy. My praise comes from a deep knowing that He who comforted his Son will pour out that same comfort and transforming power in my own feeble life. These times of forsakenness are but momentary in the larger picture of eternity. So, today I praise Him though my tears.