“I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalm 34:1
“Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” Hebrews 13:15
Right in the middle of my writing one day, as I worked on a piece about praising the Lord even in the thick of our battles, I checked my email and discovered this message from a dear friend who had just received some really difficult news and was choosing to praise the Lord even in the midst of her fiery trial! God’s perfect timing! A perfect example of exactly what I was writing about!
“Praise you God. You are our Abba Father and You never let go of us!!! Trust and Thanksgiving with praise, prayer and expectation. Love you sweet sister in Christ!!!! Have a blessed day surrounded by His Extravagant Love and Presence!!”
How could she possibly praise the Lord in the midst of circumstances like the ones she faced? Very simply because the Lord is God, the Lord is sovereign, the Lord is almighty, the Lord is magnificent, the Lord is awesome, the Lord is magnificent, the Lord is glorious, the Lord is omnipotent, the Lord is all knowing, the Lord always knows what’s best, the Lord is love, the Lord is the most precious, beautiful, lovely, exhilarating, exciting, brilliant, amazing, phenomenal, breathtakingly majestic, splendorous, perfect Father, perfect God, holy, righteous blessing in the entire universe – and on and on, and on! She had taken her eyes off her circumstances and placed them onto the Lord, onto the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, and was choosing to give glory, honor, praise, and adoration, and to share with me, her sister in the Lord, her thrill and excitement that even in the midst of her gut wrenchingly hard circumstances, her love and trust and hope and peace were, and are, in the Lord God almighty, Lord of Lord and King of Kings!
The Bible from start to finish makes abundantly clear that the Lord is worthy of ALL praise ALL the time because of who He is, what He has done, is doing, and will do NO MATTER the circumstances of our lives. This is not to say that we will not face difficult circumstances, nor that we will not find ourselves at times moaning, groaning, pitying ourselves, hurting, etc., but it is to say that we need to continually purge from our hearts, mouths, and lives anything displeasing and dishonoring to God and to fill up our hearts and mouths with love and adoration and praise for God almighty in Christ Jesus, hallelujah!