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Tough Reasons to Praise

Often in worship, I lead the song “Worthy of It All.”  Other than the fact that he simply IS worthy and wonderful and HOLY, how do we personally connect to this idea? To get into a frame of mind connecting me to the song in a way that I can lead with the Spirit, I try to think of all the moments in my life that God is so worthy of praise for bringing me through. 

Unfortunately, the first items that come to mind are negative moments of hardship and trial.  Events where at the time, I’m like, “God, WHY?  What is this for? This does not feel good.”  I don’t curse God for the hard times when I go through them, but I do question. To question is part of being human and not divine. So is remembering the bad before the good.  The human brain is programmed to hold onto the bad memories much longer than the good ones.  We thrive on The Drama.  

There are probably good, evolutionary reasons for this. Fight or flight helps us survive. We etch the things we learn from bad experiences into our brain in order not to repeat them again, hopefully.  The excitement of drama and threat lifts our mood, wakes us up as we respond to it, and those brain chemicals actually feel good.  They mirror the ones we get when we feel happy or have had a good workout, but are much stronger, and can imprint that memory into our being.  Once delivered from our trials, we are relieved of the stress, and we are glad, but we don’t have as strong a biological response to relief as to stress.  

So, while the tough stuff comes to mind first, I must look to the other side of the drama and look for all the ways God delivered me and invited me back into His dance.  And there are so many!

The Bible tells us that God “will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways” (Psalm 91:11). That is amazing!

We know that He will intercede for us.  He calls us not to be afraid because He walks with us, invisible, but ever present.  Like the psalmist, we can own that thought, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil…”(Psalm 24).

And though it is obvious that God is worthy of all praise, it helps me that while I sing how worthy He is, moments of deliverance in my life flash through my brain.  Like my life flashing before my eyes, He shows me exactly the times He interceded, carried me, and invited me through the tough stuff - back into His dance.

Take time to enter into a moment with God and let Him show you His work in your life.  Why is He worthy of your praise?  Let the revelation overwhelm you.

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