Praise the Lord!
New English Translation
Praise God in his sanctuary;
praise him in the sky, which testifies to his strength!
Praise him for his mighty acts;
praise him for his surpassing greatness!
Praise him with the blast of the horn;
praise him with the lyre and the harp!
Praise him with the tambourine and with dancing;
praise him with stringed instruments and the flute!
Praise him with loud cymbals;
praise him with clanging cymbals!
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! Psalm 150
I’ve been listening to “That’s Who I Praise” by Brandon Lake a lot lately. Something about it connects with me on a deeper level. The words, the meaning…they’re just right. They’re everything that Psalm 150 talks about. Praising God, declaring His goodness, making a declaration of what Biblical figures we want to be like so we can praise God in mightier ways. So, in my now normal routine I was listening to it on repeat while taking a shower and a thought came across my mind. Do I praise God or do I praise my problems?
That one was a real light-bulb moment. See, lately, I’ve been struggling with God redirecting my life and telling me what I need to change and how to handle it correctly. With that, there’s been a lot of realization of what wasn’t right that made it so I needed to change. Because of that, I’ve been dealing with shame, as well as hurt. As with most humans, that usually comes with sharing feelings and memories with family.
So, while I was thinking in the shower, I realized that rather than praising God, especially praising Him for the fact He was actively helping me redirect my life, I was praising my problems by letting them consume me, whether it be by shaming me or causing me to be upset.
Now, you may not have the exact same problem as me, but think about it. What is consuming you instead of God? What determines the mood of your day? What surrounds every thought and worms its way into conversations with people you’re close to? Whatever that thing is for you, that’s what you’re praising instead of God.
That leaves us with this question: What do we do about it?
Good question… well, there are several things. For one thing, let the people you’re close to know that you’re trying to work on not worshipping that thing and worshipping God instead. Ask them to be your guardian, ready to tell you when you’re getting into letting that thing consume you. But, don’t be offended when they do tell you…you asked, they’re just doing what you asked them to.
Secondly, read your Bible and soak it in. I would hope that you’re already reading your Bible daily, but if you’re not, be intentional and make it a non-negotiable part of your life. Doesn’t matter what happens, if it’s a non-negotiable, you’ll make everything else fit around it.
Third, play music that talks about God and who He says you are, not secular music. What you listen to is what you believe. So, if you’re only listening to secular music, then you’re cementing secular ideas into your core beliefs rather than letting God be the core of your life.
Last, but definitely not least, pray. There are specific prayer points you can nail down. The first one is praying for God to chip away all the things in your heart that aren’t supposed to be there. Realize, that’ll be an intense and likely painful endeavor, but don’t be afraid to let God get real with you. Second, pray that God will open your eyes to His perspective of the world. If we see things the way He does, then we’ll atomatically have a better understanding of what we’re doing. Third, pray that He’ll train your thoughts, words, and actions to match with His. You can never go wrong if you’re following His lead on all three of those.
Get one thing straight, though, I’m not giving you a formula for an overnight sensation fix. I’ve been already working on including these practices in my life and I’m still needing to pursue deeper growth from God. However, I am telling you that these will help you intentionally invite God to be the center of your life. If God’s not in the center, everything falls apart.
