11.21.2024
By Pastor John Crotts
When my wife and I were students in college, we made a deal. We each agreed that at any time and in any circumstance, each of us would be willing to answer the question: "What are you going to praise the Lord about?" While this could seem to be simplistic or even silly, it proved to be a real help in responding rightly to bad times or bad attitudes.
You can know that there were times when I was upset, irritated, or angry, and the LAST thing I wanted to do was think up reasons to praise God. I would usually begin by mumbling something about God's greatness, his awesome power, or his glory. Then I would start to warm up and think about his sovereignty, his justice, his mercy, and his grace. Because God is infinite in praiseworthiness you could see how the list could go on and on.
It didn't take long into the list to discover a real difference in my attitude. Even though my circumstances had not changed one bit, my heart's direction had turned 180 degrees. One of the great means of responding rightly to trials is to get God in your thinking. This deal with my then girlfriend had a powerful effect of overwhelming my problems with true thoughts about God.
It is nearly impossible to fill your mind with right worshipful thoughts about God, and maintain a sour, complaining, irritated, pessimistic, angry, or discouraged heart attitude. Let me give you several examples to illuminate how the process can work.
If you praise God for his sovereignty, you are reminded that he is in control even of the difficult situation you have found yourself in. How can you stay upset when you are praising and thanking the One who sovereignly allowed the problem into your life for an ultimately GOOD purpose (look up James 1:2-6, Romans 8:28-30, and 1 Corinthians 10:13 if you have any doubts about this truth)?
When you ponder God's goodness, it is hard not to think that within God's plan he has some good purpose in your present problem. His goodness also reminds you of how many good things God has done in the past, and inspires your confidence that he will be good in the future (remember the song "Count your Blessings?").
Even when I would praise God for his perfect justice, it led to some pretty encouraging thoughts. If God is just, he will not let the guilty party get away with what they did to me (see Romans 12:17-21). The totally just God saw my true motivations for my actions, even when they were misunderstood by others.
Part of thinking about the justice of God, however, could have become discouraging. God also saw the sins that I had committed in the situation. Maybe I provoked the problem, or didn't respond rightly to the sins committed against me, or am harboring bitterness instead of being willing to forgive all that was done to me.
The reason these thoughts should not add fuel to my bad attitude is that I had just praised God for his grace and mercy. God's justice towards the sins of his children was satisfied by the death of the Son of God, Jesus Christ on the cross. On the basis of Jesus' substitutionary death, God can justly remove all condemnation off of all who are trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Any thoughts of bitterness or even discontentment in tough circumstances melt in light of how God has graciously forgiven all of our sins. Compared to eternity in hell, no situation on earth should ever be a source of a single complaint. Praising God for his mercy helps you to refocus my heart on these realities, and adjust our attitudes accordingly.
Psalm 73 provides a biblical example of this process in action. The writer of the psalm was a man named Asaph. He was very discouraged as he looked at wicked people all around him prospering, while he serving God and suffering (have you ever been tempted to think like this? Who ever said that the Bible was irrelevant?).
Asaph got so low that he even began to think, "All in vain have I kept my heart clean and washed my hands in innocence" (Psalm 73:13). What made the difference for Asaph? How was he able to regain a godly perspective? Verses 16 and 17 provide the answer. "But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end." Hey Asaph, what are you going to praise God about?
After he went into the sanctuary of God (the place of praise and worship), he put God back into his perspective, and had an entire turnaround in his attitude. He realized that the all-knowing just God would never leave the wicked unpunished. If it appeared that they were getting away with defying God in their lifestyles, Asaph was reminded about the big picture. God is gracious and patient towards sinful people, but his patience will one day give way to his justice. In the end, if the wicked refuse to turn to Christ for mercy, they will face the eternal wrath of God. No one gets away with sin against God.
The rest of Psalm 73 is filled with thoughts of praise to his great God. Asaph learned the lesson that my wife and I stumbled upon with our deal to praise God in tough circumstances. Now thirty-four years later, we still encourage each other to keep God all around our thinking about the difficult situations in our lives. While an attitude of praising God will not change your circumstances, it will most certainly change you.
Happy Thanksgiving!
