Convenient Praise?

“I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. I will boast in the Lord; the humble will hear and be glad. Proclaim with me the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt His name together.” (Psalm 34:1-3 CSB)

It is easy to praise God when it’s convenient. Or scheduled. It is not so easy when you feel like your life is falling apart. A distressed life can easily morph into a distracted life. Pain demands attention and strongly dislikes being ignored. It intends to have its “pound of flesh,” so to speak.

What we do in response can shape our life directions. We can sink into the whirlpool of dismay and allow it to suck the life out of us, or, we can take hold of the life-saver God provides and let Him pull us to safety.

Praise is a life-saver. How so? Praise brings God into focus and challenges our perceptions. Some consider that escapist, but just the opposite, it puts us in touch with true reality. Praise of God takes us toward the greatness of God and reminds us that nothing ever takes Him by surprise. It testifies to us that He is fully aware of every detail of our lives. Praise teaches us that whatever His purposes, He will somehow act redemptively in our lives and ultimately bring positive from the negative, substance from the ashes. And beyond this, God will use the experiences we go through as a testimony to others as a means of encouraging them. That is what David means when he says, “The humble will hear and be glad.”

Praise is what recalibrates life’s perspectives. That is why it is so important that praise be constant, continual. Praise changes everything and especially us. And it thwarts the purposes of the enemy to destroy us.

“Proclaim with me the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt His name together.”

Lord, May our praise of You never be routine, and may it never be limited to convenience or schedule. In all of our life experiences, may we continually give You the praise of our hearts, so that we may then gain hearts of wisdom. Amen.