Psalm 150 “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his exceeding greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing symbols! Let everything that breathe praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!” Today's episode is about how important praise is, even when we are in a dark place, maybe even more so when we are in a dark place. 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 Way Out Of The Darkness
Psalm 150 “Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his exceeding greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing symbols! Let everything that breathe praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
I decided I would take some scriptures from my Encounter Ministries class. We are definitely learning how to walk boldly with Jesus in that class, or maybe more with the Holy Spirit. Wherever the Holy Spirit is God and Jesus are not far away. The reason I hesitated when I read this Psalm is because I talk about praise a lot. I thought you might be sick of hearing about praise and I thought I might not have anything new to say about praise. However, I don’t think that thought was a nudge from the Holy Spirit, I think it was a nudge from the enemy. The reason I think this is because I know how important praise is, and so does the enemy.
There is so much power in praising God and the enemy knows that. Just the other day I was talking with some of the ladies in my Encounter class and we were talking about dryness in prayer and when we feel we are in the darkness. Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like you are doing your part praying to God and yet you can’t feel Him, you can’t seem to find Him? Have you ever felt like He has abandoned you? You are not a lone, this happens to everyone at some point or another. We had a speaker at our conference the other day who said when we feel like God is pulling away, that is not a bad thing, it is actually a good thing.
Damian Stayne said during his talk that when we feel like God is pulling away from us, He is actually just stretching our heart muscle. If we want to grow in our faith, in our trust, in our love of God, our heart muscles must grow too. God is helping it to do that by gently pulling away at times and then coming closer. During the discussion with my friends and classmates we were talking about what we do in the dark times. One woman said she just had a few days where she felt alone. The previous days she had felt very close to the Lord and it felt amazing. Then she entered a few days where she couldn’t feel the Lord. She felt alone. She said she remembered hearing somewhere that when you are in the darkness you should praise the Lord. She decided even though she didn’t feel like it, she would praise the Lord and in a few days she came out of the darkness.
I think I may have mentioned this before, but in case you have never heard this before, Mother Teresa was known for her love of Jesus. She had a very personal and intimate encounter with Jesus on a train one time and it fortified her faith beyond words. She loved Him. When others met her, just by being around her, they loved Jesus too. Her love for Jesus was overflowing. Mother Teresa also went through a dark time. She would go into prayer time and she couldn’t pray, she didn’t feel God anywhere. There were times when she questioned if He existed. She knew He did, because she had seen Him and yet she didn’t feel like He existed. This dark period for her wasn’t just a year or two, I believe it was more like 50 years. I saw one place online that said, “For nearly 50 years, Mother Teresa endured what the church calls a “dark night of the soul” — a period of spiritual doubt, despair and loneliness that many of the great mystics experienced, her namesake St. Therese of Lisieux included.”
Can you imagine that? Fifty years of spiritual doubt, despair and loneliness and those around her did not know. She did share this information with her spiritual director, but most of those around her would have said she was a happy person, so full of the Light of God. She smiled a lot and spread God’s joy to so many others. It makes me sad to think she didn’t have that joy inside of her. I pray that none of you listening to this podcast have to endure 50 years of suffering like she did. You will probably have to endure some times of darkness, times when you feel lonely, you feel God has abandoned you, and so on. When this happens, remember this episode and praise God through it.
I believe that praising God more is the answer to so many questions. I believe it is the solution to so many of our problems. I was praying one time while I was out for a run and I asked God to tell me what I was doing that was different than others. I asked Him to tell me why I was able to have such a deep trust in Him and I really felt like He said it is because I praise Him so much. I love to listen to praise and worship music. Ever since I discovered Christian music I have been in love with it and listen to it any chance I get. Spending all this time praising God has definitely increased my faith I have also had a practice of daily (or as close to daily as I can get) gratitude. I think this had really made a difference too. I think both of these help train my mind and help my mind stay focused on the things that are important. They keep pointing me back to Jesus.
If you find yourself enduring what the church calls the “dark night of the soul” try praising God through it. I don’t know a lot about the “dark night of the soul,” but I don’t think it is typical that it lasts as long as it did for Mother Teresa of Calcutta. I believe Damian said his lasted about 10 years. However, you can also have dark periods of isolation that last just a few days, like my friend had a few weeks ago. The timing of it all is up to God. God has a purpose for this period of isolation and only He knows when it has done its job.
I don’t know that praising God while you are in the Darkness will get you out of the darkness any faster because God has His own timing. I do believe that it will help you endure the darkness better. I believe praising God is a great way to get outside of your thoughts and focus on God and all He has done for you.
I am going to read Psalm 150 to you again so you can hear the intensity in which the author of Psalm believes in praising the Lord. I think the words of the Psalm are the best words to leave you with today.“Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty firmament! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his exceeding greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing symbols! Let everything that breathe praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!”
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we want to praise you and love you forever. Lord, we ask that you be with everyone, even those going through that dark night of the soul. I pray that you give them the strength they need to make it through to the other side. We know on the other side of that darkness is light. We know it is not just light, but also growth and new treasures that you have for us when we get to the other side. We thank you Lord, you are truly wonderful. We know you never abandon us and we love you for it! We love you Lord 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 again tomorrow. Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!