During lockdown I have hugely missed worshipping as a church community. There is something so special and important about being with others who point you to God, and who share mutual adoration of Him. Psalm 81 tells believers to ‘sing for joy to God our strength’ and ‘shout aloud’. There is so much freedom to be found in worshipping God together, and God comes to meet us as we do so (I’ll link some of my favourite worship music below for those who are not familiar with it). Some worship songs speak about the wonders that God has done and the grace he has bestowed upon us. Some speak about the awe and majesty of God. And some are just outrightly praising God, shouting aloud his worthiness. As I pray with Phoebe each night, I say a line and she repeats it, and I find some of the most beautiful prayers aren’t those of requests, but those that praise God- ‘God you are so good. You are so kind. You are so wonderful. God we love you.’ I can always sense the Holy Spirit when I pray these kinds of prayers and they bring such freedom to my heart. Looking to God instead of looking to myself is so freeing! John 8:32 says “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”- I honestly believe there is no faster track to freedom from all our issues than praising the God who created us, loves us and wants the best for us!
Praising God comes as a natural consequence of knowing him. When we truly understand how good God is, we can’t help but praise him- praise is an overflow of our love for Him. I was going to write that it is sometimes harder to want to praise God when things are going badly, but actually I’ve found more praise rising in my spirit this year than ever before. I don’t think I’ve ever quite understood the outrageous kindness and goodness of God in my everyday life more than in recent days. I have had no choice but to turn to Him for all of my needs, and He has provided above and beyond what I could ever have imagined. He has sat with me in my pain, and not constantly tried to correct me or hurry me along. He just knows, understands, loves and speaks hope to me. When things are going well, I often forget to rely on God for my every need, and my praise becomes stale- I look to other things and praise those things instead. Psalm 81 talks of idols that Israel (God’s chosen people) turned to, even after the Lord so faithfully rescued them out of the clutches of Egypt. We can look at Israel and mock their lack of faith in God, but how often do we do exactly the same as them? We forget what Jesus did for us on the cross, and we turn away from God when things aren’t going exactly as we expected. Just as Israel set up false idols to worship, we turn from God to praise our own understanding, the approval of others, the technology we own, the status we are desperately seeking, the wealth, the power, the relationships- the list is endless and will be different for everyone!
The problem with turning to other things, is that they are really dead-ends. They hold no eternal hope. Praising them and holding these things in high esteem may feel good for a while, but we all know how fickle people are, and how trends change, and how quickly things can fall apart. But God is unchanging- Hebrews 13:8 says ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever’. When I look back over my life, I am amazed at how blurry and fuzzy my memories are- some parts of my life seem like a distant dream. But the God that sits next to me now is exactly the same one that held me during childhood trauma and through the epic highs and epic lows of my life in Leeds. He hasn’t changed one bit, and that is the most comforting thing in the world to me. If he hasn’t forsaken me, it means he will continue to stay with me- he doesn’t change his mind! I can’t begin to describe how good a friend God is, and how forgiving and kind a Father he is. To know Him is to love Him- you just can’t help it. To praise Him just makes total sense.
Psalm 81 talks about the heartbreak of God as he sees his people turn away from Him, despite all He has done for them. He says “I removed the burden from your shoulders; their hands were set free from the basket. In your distress you called and I rescued you, I answered you out of a thundercloud (he gave his people water when they were doubting his provision)”. He goes on to say “If only you would listen to me, Israel! You shall have no foreign God among you; you shall not worship any God other than me. I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt. Open wide your mouth and I will fill it”. Isn’t God saying exactly the same to us today? If only you would listen to me! How often do we look at our own circumstances and panic, falling to the floor in despair, when God is offering us everything that we need! Spurgeon says “The story of Israel is only our own history in another shape. God has heard us, delivered us, liberated us, and too often our unbelief makes the wretched return of mistrust, murmuring and rebellion”. As Christians we know the enormous sacrifice God made for us by sending his son to die, yet we don’t really understand the enormity of what this means, and what he has saved us from. We really underestimate our continued desperate need for a saviour and a guide. If God says we needed grace back then, we also need it now, and tomorrow and the next day. The worldly things we look to can never fulfil our need for grace; only the miraculous provision of God can do so. Plus, what he gives is far better. So many times I’ve presented by requests to God and he’s replied with a big fat ‘No!’ to a lot of them, because he has something far better in mind for me! We look to things to fulfil our need for love, but forget to look the source of love Himself.
Let’s look to Christ before we look to anything else. God says “If my people would only listen to me, if Israel would only follow my ways, how quickly I would subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes!” He promises that if we look to him, we will be “fed with the finest of wheat and with honey from the rock I will satisfy you”. He reserves the very best for us. Don’t assume your ideas are better than God’s- His are far greater! All we need to do is look to him, and open our hearts to be filled with his wisdom and grace. I’m reminded of the miracle of the Widow’s oil in 2 Kings 4:1-7- Elisha met with a widow who was devasted as debt collectors were coming to take her sons as slaves as punishment for her debts. Elisha instructed her to get as many jars as possible from her neighbours, to not hold back! She collected them and he then instructed her to pour oil into each one- as she poured, the oil miraculously kept flowing and flowing and flowing. It wasn’t until she had run out of jars that the oil stopped. She then had enough to repay the debtors. In the same way, our expectation of God is so important! We can open to him a little bit, and he will pour a little bit of himself in. Or, we can open up a lot of ourselves, and leave enormous room in our lives for his wisdom and guidance, and he will meet us in an enormous way. It is only now that I have lost so much, and I have so much emptiness in my life that I’ve offered up to God, that I realise the enormity of his generosity. He has so much love to give- there is nothing greater than receiving his precious self. It is when we open ourselves to him, and let him fill us, that the overflow of praise comes.
I believe the only way to living a fulfilling and worthy life is by emptying ourselves of all the ‘stuff’ that we have raised higher than God in our lives. God deserves the entirety of praise in our hearts. We were created by him, and he knows us deeply. He knows how to fully satisfy all of the longings of our hearts, but we need to create space for him to do so. Make sure to praise him today, and tomorrow and the next day. Speak out the truth of how important God is in your life. Speak out about his goodness and grace and kindness. Speak out about how much you adore him. Lift him higher than your troubles or doubts or worries. Keep lifting him higher and higher; see your love and need for Him increase as you do so. He has done so much for us, he’s doing so much for you, and he will continue to do more and more. Everything else counts as nothing compared the wonder of who He is! Praise Him.
“I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” (Philippians 3:8).
Housefires – Good Good Father (feat. Pat Barrett) – YouTube
Vertical Worship – Strength of My Life (Lyrics) – YouTube
Here Be Lions – Power When We Worship (Official Live Video) – YouTube
Man of Your Word (feat. Chandler Moore & KJ Scriven) – Maverick City | TRIBL – YouTube
Finding Belonging 