Day Nine
“Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:4,6-9
This verse is easy to say sincerely when everything in your life is going great, right? What about when things are not going great? It always amazes me when I see people praising God as they go through horrific life circumstances such as miscarriages, divorce, bankruptcy, rape, homelessness, death of a loved one or being diagnosed with life threatening illnesses. I admire their ability to rise above the situation and still praise the God who had the power to protect them from the very thing that brings them pain. The question comes to mind, would I be able to do the same? I sure hope so, but we never really know until we are in that position. I have definitely had situations in my life when I didn’t think I could go on any longer, when it took everything in me to just get out of bed, dreading what the day would bring. I have found myself at the bottom of a pit, not able to climb out of the depression that overtook me. It is not a fun place to be, at all. I was angry at God for allowing what had happened and found it very difficult to praise him. I did finally get tired of the pit that I was in and wanted out, I still wasn’t able to praise him but did pray for the strength to do so. I believe, that it was only by God’s amazing grace and mercy that he did provide that strength. He showed me that he could turn my worry into worship and my pain into praise. Although my situation cannot be compared to some of those others, it was still a horrific time in my life and God used it to show me one very simple, yet complex truth; when I fix my eyes on him and his sovereignty it takes my eyes off of me and my circumstances. Like the verse says, “Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. THEN the God of peace will be with you.” Does God ever leave us alone in those situations? No, but it can definitely feel that way when all we see and feel is the pain. When we surround ourselves with the weight of circumstance and fix our eyes on our pain, there is no room for the weight of God’s glory. However, when we invite him to be a part of it with us instead and “pray about everything; telling God what you need, and thanking him for all he has done. THEN you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.” When we turn our eyes off of our situation and on to the sovereignty of Jesus, he gives us wings to soar above it all. “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.” Isaiah 40:29-31
Today’s Exercise: Worship Walk
Go for a walk or jog today and keep your focus on praising God. Put some worship music on through your headphones and get ready to soar above all the problems in your life. Focus on praising him for all the good and all that he’s taught you through your circumstances. Ask him to help you rise above the pain so you can see is sovereign hand working in every aspect of the situation. Ask him to turn your worry into worship and your pain into praise, then trust and believe that he will do just that.