Mrs. Mimi Suohu
A Christian couple from California once visited a family in Beirut, Lebanon while that country was in the midst of a shaky ceasefire. One day they were invited for dinner by another Christian family there. The family had no electricity and no running water. Makeshift trenches surrounded the apartment building and their balcony had been hit by a bomb fragment just days earlier. Yet, before saying the blessing for the meal, the father asked everyone to sing the old familiar hymn “count your blessings.”
This story remimded me of Paul and Silas in the book of ACTS, when they were thrown in prison for preaching the gospel. They were stripped, beaten and placed in stocks in the inner cell. But despite their dismal situation in the dark, damp dungeon, Paul and Silas though in terrible pain and hopeless circumstances,began to sing and praise God as the other prisoners listened.
They were able to look beyond their hardships and thank God – not because of what had happened, but because God was in control. They demonstrated that praising, worshipping God or giving thanks is not dependent on our circumstances. We need to remind ourselves of God’s goodness to us, even when things are difficult.
Amazingly, as they continued praising God in the midst of those dire circumstances, God brought earthquake that destroyed the prison, freed Paul and Silas and enable them to lead the prison guard to Christ. The point that I want us to notice here is that they gave thanks before something good happened. Sometimes, we think, I’ll give thanks only when things work out. But we need to learn to give thanks ahead of time, because God is in control. David did this often in his Psalms when overwhelmed by adversity, he would remind himself of God’s promises and faithfulness and then thank and praise God. He writes in Psalms 63:3-4 ‘Because Your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I will live, I will lift up my hands in Your name.’ We may say, yes that’s a wonderful Psalms to sing if I’m in the mood, but I’m not right now, I’m not feeling well …. I just had a fight, … things are not working the way I wanted … etc.
Yet if David had waited to ‘feel better ‘ he never would have written the Psalms, conditions were much less than ideal when he took his pen to write down these words, because scholars say that David wrote this Psalms when he was seeking refuge during his son Absolom’s rebellion – when his own son was out to kill him and take his throne!
These words (Psalms 63:3-4) didn’t lift David out of his circumstances, but they caused him to put his problems in perspective. He was not praising God because of what had happened, he praised God despite what had happened and reminded himself that God was still on the throne. Instead of being gripped by fear and worry, he was filled with trust and hope.
Matthew 6:25 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and body more than clothing?”
This verse teaches us some very important lessons in life.
- The same God who created life in you can be trusted with the details of your life.
- God does not ignore those who depend on Him.
- Living one day at a time keeps us from being consumed with worry.
The word “Oops” is not in God’s vocabulary, though at times that’s hard for us to see and tough to swallow, but we can still say Lord I don’t know why that happened, I don’t understand why You allowed that, but I thank you that You teach me through the different experiences and that ‘You’ are still in control.
Everything God does in your life is filtered through love – not through anger, not through hostility, not through vengeance but through love.
If you are going through a tough time today, sit back for a moment and “Count your blessings”, that will help you to find happiness the world does not know. Choose to worship instead of worrying.