Psalm 117: “Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.” Do you praise the Lord when all is going right? Do you praise Him when things are going badly? This episode talks about the importance of praising God in the good and the bad times. I think you will be surprised how much better things can get when you learn to do this. 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 Series #6 Praise the Lord
Psalm 117: “Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.”
Praising the Lord is so important. It is important not only when things are going well, but when things are not going so well. God can and will use all things for your good. It may feel impossible to see that when you are in it, but he will take what the devil means for harm and use it for good. I was going to say that praising God when things are going well is easy. But actually, that is not always true. A lot of times, when things are going well, we don’t think about God. We are busy just living our happy lives, and unless something comes into our lives to upset the good things we have going, we often don’t think of God.
I don’t think the problem is that we don’t want to thank God for all the good he has given us; I just think that it doesn’t occur to many of us. We think more of God when we need something. When things are bad, we are quick to blame God, or to ask Him why this is happening, but when things are good we don’t think to ask God why it’s happening. What did we do right to deserve all this happiness? Why did God allow the great things to happen? Those are not questions we usually ask Him. However, he is the first to be blamed when things go wrong. Why is that? Why do we give him none of the credit when things are going right and all of the blame when things go wrong? God is there in the good and in the bad. We would be nothing, have nothing, without him.
It would be so great if we could learn to praise in both good and bad situations. That probably sounds strange, praise Him in the bad situations? What am I supposed to say, thank you so much that my baby boy is sick? No, that is not what I am saying. You don’t have to thank him, but you can praise. You could say something like, “Lord, you are all-knowing, you are the great physician, and I know that you can heal my son. You are all-powerful, and your ways are better than my ways. I don’t know why this is all happening, and I know I may not understand this side of heaven. What I do know is that you love us and you want the best for us. We ask that you heal our son. We thank you so much for answering our prayers. As you have said in Matthew 7:7, “Ask, and it will be given, seek, and you will find, knock, and the door will be opened.” So, Lord God, we are grateful for your hearing our prayers and answering them. We thank you for the strength you have given us, the strength to get out of bed in the morning. We love you, Lord, and we praise you for being you.”
Do you see how there are ways to praise God even in an impossibly bad situation? There are plenty of bad things that happen. God does not want all these things to happen; they are not his perfect will. I don’t know why he allows bad things to happen. However, I believe, if we start praising God more in our own lives, then we will see fewer bad and more good things happen. If we can learn to praise God when we are struggling, and also remember to praise him and thank him when things are going well, I truly believe that is the way to a happier life.
I have been listening to Father Mike Schmitz read the Bible in a Year podcast. We have spent quite some time now listening to the story of King David. Actually, David was discussed long before he became king. When he was just a young boy, he took a slingshot and four flat stones and defeated the giant that no one else would go near. The whole army was afraid of the giant, Goliath, but David knew God could do anything, so he was not afraid. David had a complicated life. He did so much good, and yet, he also did some really terrible things.
One thing that David did really well was praising God. He thanked God when he was being blessed. He remembered to thank God when things were going well. He pointed out to all who would listen that God was the reason for his success. However, even when things were bad, he praised God. That doesn’t mean he didn’t question God. He definitely did that. He definitely asked why he had to go through things, why God was allowing them to happen, and how long the hard times would last. Then, after questioning, he usually ended up praising. The Psalms in the Bible are full of David’s praises and his questions to God. In one minute, David will be asking God how long he will have to endure this suffering, and then in the next verse, David will be praising God and thanking God for all that He has done to bless him and provide for him.
I think when we start praising God more, we start to see more good things happen. I believe this happens for two reasons. First, I think God blesses us more when we remember to take a minute to thank Him and praise Him for all He has given to us. Second, I think we see more because we are looking for the good. When we stop to praise God when something good happens, then we are taking the time to notice it. It is similar to when you start a gratitude practice. If you stop and take 10 minutes in the morning, or even just 2 minutes, and write down a few things you are grateful for, then you will start to notice more and more things you have to be grateful for. Is it because more great things are happening, or is it because you are noticing more good things?
Where you put your focus is so important. If you focus on all that is going wrong, you will start to see more bad things in your life. Where you are putting your focus is something that you have control over. There are plenty of things happening in our lives that we don’t have control over. However, the focus of your thoughts is not one of those things. If you do not believe what a difference this can make, I ask you to give it a try. For one week, try focusing on noticing the good things that are happening throughout your day. Try at the beginning or end of your day to write down 10 things that you can be grateful for or that you can praise God for. If you know you are going to have to come up with 10 things, then you will spend your day looking for good things. When you are on the lookout for good things, you will start to see them. Trust me. I will leave you with Psalm 118:1, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.”
Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for all that you do for us. I ask that you show us how to praise you, Lord. I pray that we will remember to praise you in the good and the difficult times. I pray that we can all find something to be grateful for each and every day. Lord, I don’t know why bad things happen. I do know that you love us and work all things for our good. I know you are leading this journey and that we are just along for the ride. I ask that you lead our journey. Lord, I ask that you bless all those who are listening right now. Lord, I pray all of this in accordance with your holy will and in Jesus’s holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much or joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus. I look forward to meeting you here again tomorrow. Have a very blessed day!
Today’s Word from the Lord was received in July 2025 by a member of my Catholic Charismatic Prayer Group. If you have any questions about the prayer group, these words, or how to join us for a meeting, please email CatholicCharismaticPrayerGroup@gmail.com. Today’s Word from the Lord is, “You are my children, and I love each and every one of you, and I meet you where you're at. So you can bring me your muck and mire, and your brambles. You can bring them to me, and I will fix them. I will heal them. I will lift you out of them. ”