If you’ve lived long enough, you’ve likely faced seasons of life that brought challenges and hardships. No one is immune in these difficult times, and unfortunately, avoiding them is impossible. Perhaps you’ve faced a career setback, the heartbreak of a miscarriage, or the unexpected loss of a loved one. Maybe your marriage is struggling, or you’ve gone through a divorce. For some, the struggle might involve depression or mental illness. Maybe you or a loved one is battling addiction, or you are navigating trying to parent a rebellious child. As we have seen throughout the United States, many people have suffered the loss of everything from the destruction of hurricanes, flooding and wildfires. There are countless challenges we can face, times when simply getting by feels excruciating, let alone finding enough happiness to physically praise God in those seasons. Especially when it seems so hard to see God’s presence in the season we are in.
So, what are we to do when we find ourselves walking through something that seems too much to handle? When the valley feels so deep that the mountaintop just isn’t visible.
WE PRAISE HIM THROUGH IT!
Scripture teaches us the incredible power our words hold. Proverbs 18:21 reminds us, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” Our words have real power to shape our lives, our relationships, and even our worldviews. Likewise, Proverbs 12:18 also speaks of the healing power our words can have, “The words of the reckless pierce like a sword, but the tongue of the wise brings healing.”
God, in His infinite power, created the universe and everything in it with His words. In Genesis 1:3, God said, “Let there be light, and there was light.” His words brought everything into creation, showing us the transformative power of what we speak. Our words train up our children into adults who are ready to take on the world. Our words create relationships with the people we come to love and one day call our spouse or our friend. Our words bring joy to a stranger in passing. And most importantly, our words help a lost and dying world come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Our words can offer hope, peace, and joy—even in the midst of hardship, because what we speak in difficult times reveals our hearts and our trust in God, not in the world. “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of” Matthew 12:34. When we praise God in the most trying of times, we are declaring that our hearts are full of faith and trust in God and His goodness, and not our current situation.
If we look to scripture, we find a man named Paul who can teach us a lot about how to handle some of the most difficult situations. Paul was far from a perfect man, but when he encountered Christ, his heart was radically transformed. A man who once persecuted Christians was now filled with a burning passion to share the gospel. Throughout this mission, he fought some of the worst persecution but yet scripture tells us that he found a way to battle those seasons with a joyful heart. In the book of Philippians, we see that Paul had been thrown into jail for preaching the gospel of Christ. Just imagine shackles and chains for sharing the good news of Christ’s salvation. Seems hard to believe, but in the days of Paul it was not unheard of. Truth be told, this still happens today in parts the world we live in, Christians being persecuted for their faith in Christ.
The apostle Paul is a prime example of this. Despite his flaws and imperfections, Paul’s life was radically transformed after encountering Christ. His heart, once filled with what he thought was a righteous passion for persecuting Christians, was now filled with a burning passion to share the gospel of Christ, no matter the cost.
From prison, in Philippians 1:12-14 Paul wrote, “I want you to know, brothers, that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel, so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard and to all the rest that my imprisonment is for Christ. And most of the brothers, having become confident in the Lord by my imprisonment, are much more bold to speak the word without fear.” Through his persecution and suffering, Paul knew that God’s faithfulness would not waver, and that His purpose for Paul’s life would be fulfilled. He had an assurance within him so deep that even in a cold, dirty jail cell, he knew his joy came not in his circumstances but only from the Lord. And that joy in teaching others about the Love of Christ changed the hearts of not only his cellmates but also the guards that held him there.
Paul’s story teaches us that our current circumstances are not as important as what we do with them. Paul glorified God even more because of his imprisonment. In Philippians 1:21 Paul writes, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain” which meant that whether alive or dead, He would rejoice because of the glory of God. If God allowed Paul to live in chains, he would praise the Lord, and if Paul were to die in chains, he knew his life honored and glorified God. How much greater is our witness than when we are walking through the valley, and we chose to rejoice in praise to God, who makes our paths straight.
The ultimate example, though, for us to follow comes from Christ. Jesus, who led a sinless life, was persecuted and ultimately crucified, which led to an excruciating death for the sins of all humanity. He came to earth to glorify His Father and save us from our own sins. He taught us through His actions and His Word that God is always worthy of all our praise.
Just before His crucifixion, Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane to pray. In that moment we see the depths of His pain when He says, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death” Matthew 26:38. Jesus knew the torture He would soon endure, which would ultimately lead to death and separation from His Father, and that overwhelmed Him to the point of death. While we will never experience what Christ endured for us, we too will walk through suffering here on earth that will lead us to feel overwhelmed to the point of death. Yet, His response to suffering is the most beautiful example we have of how we too are to respond in our suffering. As Christ began to pray to the Father he said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” Matthew 26:39. Christ trusted in God’s plan and knew that His suffering would bring glory to His Father, and salvation to the world.
In the end, rejoicing in the Lord always–no matter our circumstances–not only points our hearts and minds to God’s sovereignty over our lives but it helps us to rise above our circumstances because we know that God will use our hardships for His good and His glory. By doing so, we know that our praising, even in the hardest of times, is our witness to the world. As we allow our lives to be a living testimony of God’s faithfulness to us. No matter the season, we choose to rejoice, pointing the world to the one true hope we have—Jesus Christ.