You bump into a friend you haven’t seen in a long time while your’re out getting groceries and you know the question that is coming your way…

How are you doing?

If you say, “Fine!” you know you’ll be lying, but you just read Scripture that says that everything that has breath should praise the Lord!

You may be wondering:

How can I give praise to God during trials?

Let’s look at Scripture for our answer.

In Psalm 61, David begins with crying and sorrow.  Then he points his heart towards His Rock.  He doesn’t just dwell on the sorrow, he looks to the One who can help.  Then he ends this short psalm with praise to the Lord.  He says, “You, oh God heard my vows and have given me a godly heritage!  So will I sing praise unto thy name forever that I may daily perform my vow.

By the end of the psalm it almost seems that he’s forgotten his sorrow, and so do his readers!  What a great example.

An example from the New Testament is Paul in II Corinthians 12:7-10.  He tells about the “messenger from Satan” that was given to buffet him, lest he should be exalted.  He was given some physical issue that was troublesome.  He prayed three times that God would remove it, but God told Paul that his grace would be sufficient to bear it.  Now how does he respond?  He doesn’t complain or criticize God.  Instead he says,

Most gladly will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest on me.

He points to the sufficiency of his God!

So you and I, when going through hardship, can indeed share the difficulty to someone who asks, but we must quickly then shift the focus off ourselves onto Christ.

I have a special lady in my life who has endured suffering for about six years now.  She was so active before her illness took her down!  Now she is pretty much confined to home, yet when anyone visits with her, she never dwells on her physical limitations!  Instead she pulls out her journal and begins to share all the things God has recently taught her while she’s been still!  You cannot be in her presence without knowing that she loves the Lord!  There’s no denying she’s suffering, but her focus is on the goodness of her God in the midst of her trouble.

 

She is like the psalmist who said in Psalm 119:71 – 

It is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes.  

He shared that he had an afflictions, but that he’d learned from God’s Word!

So, my friend, here is the question and my answer:

How can I share my burden and still give praise to God?

Share the burden or trial, but then on its heels,

tell what God has done for you during this time,

or how He has ministered to you, provided for you,

or what He has taught you through your trial.

That is giving praise to God!

 Follow that example, and you’ll be honest, but also obeying Psalm 150:6!

So…How are you today?  I’d love to hear!

Keep praising,