1 Thessalonians 5:18 “ Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Today's episode talks about the importance of praising God IN all circumstances, not FOR all circumstances. It also talks about the fact God didn't create all circumstances, sometimes our decisions and actions create our difficult circumstances. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Praise is the Answer
1 Thessalonians 5:18 “ Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”
I know I talk about praise a lot and yet, I am not sure if we could ever talk about praise enough. I am training for a race and on Saturdays is when I do my long runs for the week. This Saturday my long run was 9 miles, which I was not really looking forward to. I am not sure if anyone really looks forward to long runs. I decided I was going to catch up on the Big Life Devotional Podcast during my run. They are short 10-15 minute episodes and I was going to be running for over 2 hours so I had plenty of time to catch up. As I was listening what really resonated with me were the episodes on praise. I was running, and all of the sudden I felt as if I had been handed the answer to a question I had been thinking about for quite a while now. I have been wondering how I’ve been able to have such a deep faith all will turn out ok when all the evidence around me was showing the exact opposite?
While I was running I felt God was saying, the answer is praise. Pamela Crim in one of the episodes of her Big Life Devotional Podcast was talking about 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. What I focused in on and what really hit home for me was 1 Thessalonians 5:18, “ Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” Why this stuck with me is because she explained it in a way I hadn’t heard it explained before. I have heard before and even said before, we can always praise God, even when we are in the middle of a difficult situation. We don’t have to praise God for the situation, but we can find something to praise God for while we are going through something difficult. I have said things like, you don’t have to praise God because you having a hard time but you can praise God for the sunrise that morning, or a cup of really great coffee. I believe this, I think you can always find something to praise God for.
Listening to Pamela’s podcast episode I feel I gained an even deeper knowledge of praise and so naturally I wanted to share it will all of your who are on this journey with me. Pamela points out the phrase above doesn’t say God’s will is for us to praise God FOR all circumstances, it says In all circumstances. That’s what I was saying earlier. You don’t have to thank God FOR the difficult situation you are in but you can praise God while you are IN your difficult situation. Then what Pamela said next is something I knew but didn’t know. You know what I mean? Do you ever know something sort of subconsciously, but then someone says it out loud and brings it to the forefront of your mind? Or you knew something, but you couldn’t really explain the why and then someone says something, and everything makes sense? Pamela said we can’t thank God for all circumstances because God didn’t create all circumstances. Wow, do you see what I mean? We probably all know God doesn’t create all circumstances and yet hearing it somehow makes it more real. Some of the difficult circumstances we are in are because of things we did. God can only lead us if we follow Him. Sometimes, often times, we don’t want to do what God tells us to do and so we do our own thing. This inevitably leads us down the wrong path because if that path was the right path God wouldn’t have been standing in our way.
If we can’t thank God for all circumstances, how do we thank God in all circumstances. This is another place where Pamela said something and a lightbulb went on. It was a different way of looking at it. Pamela said when she is in the middle of a mess and can’t seem to find the good in the situation she will thank God for how He is going to work it all together for good. We don’t know what that will look like. When we are in the middle we can’t see the finish line. We can’t see the happy ending. When we are in the middle everything is just hard and is overwhelming. In this overwhelm can you stop and praise God for however He is going to us this for good? This takes a bit of faith and I think that’s why it is so powerful. You are praising God for something you haven’t seen yet. You are thinking about the good that will come out of this. How do you know good will come out of this difficult situation you are in? Romans 8:28 “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” The good is coming, it’s on the other side of this hard thing. Keep going forward, praise God for the good you can’t see and believe the good is coming.
Did that hit you like it hit me? Did it give you a better understanding of why we feel we can’t praise God FOR all circumstances? Did it help you see how you can praise God IN all circumstances? For me, I think I also needed to hear that I created some of my circumstances. Again, something I knew, but also really needed to hear. I think knowing I created some of my circumstances helps take away some of the anger. If we can see how our bad choices got us into a difficult situation it makes it harder to be angry at God. We tend to blame God for everything and for me, listening to that episode reminded me to pause and take a look at the situation. Am I in the situation because of my own doing? If so, what can I learn from this situation so I don’t make the same mistake again? How can I learn to follow the path God has set for me instead of making my own?
I said at the beginning of this episode I felt as if God said the answer to my question of my deep faith in times of trouble was because of praise. I have tried to praise God in all circumstances. My go to music for the past 10 years or so has been Christian music. And often times that is written from scripture passages. I remember the first time I heard a reading at church and it was the words to one of my favorite songs I was so excited. Because I wasn’t reading the scripture a lot back then, I had no idea. When I am happy, I listen to praise music, when I am sad, I listen to praise music. I also try to add praise to all my prayers, not a lot, but at least a sentence or two praising God. I also praise God out lout at my prayer group meetings with the 15 or so other people who are there. If you are struggling to trust in God, try adding more praise into your life. That praise can look like whatever feels best to you. You can start by listening to Christian music, or you can just tell God how great He is and how much you love Him. You can thank Him for all he is doing in your life, all He has done, and all He will do. I am sure if you add more praise into your day you will feel closer to the Lord and your trust in Him will grow. It might feel strange at first to just start praising God, especially if you do it out loud. Just think of it this way, it will be an adventure, one that is life changing!
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask you to touch our hearts and show us where you want us to praise you more. We are sorry we don’t always follow your path and then we get ourselves into difficult situations. We are forever grateful you are able to use everything in our lives for our good and for your good. We are grateful no matter how many times we turn away you still use everything for our good and you accept us back with open arms each and every time. Lord you are so wonderful. You are the Lord God almighty, You are our just and faithful ruler, You are the Light of the world. We love you so much and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen!
Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to spending time with you tomorrow. Have a blessed day!