Have you ever been on your face before God?  I mean physically on the floor crying out to Him?  Or in your mind doing the same, as you go through each minute of the day?

Praising God

Praising God in adversity is challenging.  Yet over and over again scripture tells us to reflect on all that He has done.  The more time we spend thinking on His wonderous ways, the easier it will be to offer Him praise. 

The Hebrew for Praise is “Yadah” which means “to stretch out the hand.” As if we are holding out our hands in reverence while also letting go of everything. 

Worshiping God

Worshiping God is about a relationship.  The goal is to come into His presence in total surrender, acknowledging our lowly state and our need for Him in our lives. We should desire to see less of ourselves and ask to learn more about him.

The Hebrew word for Worship is “Shachah” meaning, “to prostrate, to bow down, to fall down or to stoop.” 

Praise – Looking up – Admission
Worship – Bowing down – Submission

We look up and see God in the vast, majestic galaxies.

The immensity of this galaxy is difficult to grasp.  NASA suggests thinking of it this way:

“…find a grain of sand, hold it up to the night sky, and imagine that in it are thousands of galaxies we can see with the most powerful telescope we’ve ever constructed—and certainly countless more galaxies we cannot yet see.”

Does this make us feel insignificant?  Perhaps, but remember that we are so loved and valued that he allowed his only son to die for you and for me.

We look around and see God in the small, humble butterfly. 

In contrast to space, butterfly wings are covered in thousands of tiny scales with an intricate level of complexity that many regard as evidence of intelligent design.  Time, Growth, and Struggle.  Cocooned in a season of waiting, eventually producing beauty.

If you are going through a tough time right now, let me remind you that our God is Powerful, Faithful, Compassionate, Righteous, and Merciful.  He is our Savior, Provider, Creator, Shepherd, Healer and Father.  He is Immanuel – God with us.

Just like the widow who gave everything she had, offering praise in our hardest days will carry great meaning to our Lord. 

Mark 12:43-44 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box.  For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

HE SEES, HE KNOWS, HE CARES.

Are you familiar with the scripture that reads “He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds”?  Well just two verses prior to that (in chapter 147 of the book of Psalms) it begins with the words Praise the Lord!  It continues by stating that this is “good” and “fitting”.

Psalm 150:2 tells us to praise him for what he has done, and for who he is. “

Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness!”

Admission and submission; two very important elements of faith, even when it doesn’t make sense to us.

Next steps

If you are struggling to praise God amid adversity, this is what Psalm 40 tells us:  vs 2-3 “He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.  He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.”  Ask him to give you a new song of praise to him today.

Remember a time when God showed up for you and praise him for it. 

Submit an area of your life to God that you have been hiding from him or possibly trying to keep control of and you need to relinquish it to Him.

If you just can’t quite get to praise yet, find a song that praises God and play it for him.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Psalm 150:6