Receive God's power in a different way by praising Him in the midst of the trials.
- Jenno Marco Misa
When trials come our way, when things don't go the way we planned them to, or when the paybills come while payday is still a long way, the first base that's attacked in us are our shoulders. Before we get worried and our hearts troubled, the weight of the storms in life are first slammed onto our shoulders.
When we want to carry something that's heavy, one of the effective ways is to put it onto our shoulders. In this way, we are able to move effectively while carrying the load. In the same way, the loads in life are first carried by our shoulders, not by our hearts. Long before there is fear, the burden comes first. Long before the sleepless nights, a tiring and exhausting day first occurs. And long before there is a prolonged predicament, a heavy shoulder is what we experience first.
When we face challenges, we always say, "I feel very burdened", or "My problem is very heavy". We even say "I don't think I can carry this alone", or "I need somebody to help me carry the weight of what I'm going through now".
The truth is, it is for no reason why the devil first attacks our shoulders. When our shoulders are heavy, our arms are directed downwards, towards the ground. When our shoulders feel heavy, our hands are directed towards the dust of the earth where the devil feeds. When our shoulder is heavy, the devil is preventing us from raising our hands upwards, towards the direction of heaven. He knows that when we raise these two hands and worship God, despite that heavy feeling that's weighing us down, his tactic is over. He knows that when we look away from our burdens and choose to worship God, he is finished.
Praising God during the good times is good. When we have received the miracle we have been praying for, when our healing has come, or the breakthrough that we have been believing for has happened, it's right to praise God. But what about during the times when we feel like everything is going against us? What about the times when we feel like the weight of the whole world is on our shoulders? Or what about those times where there seems to be dark clouds always hounding above us? How can we have the heart to worship God in the midst of such trials?
In the scriptures, (2 Chronicles Chapter 20) King Jehoshaphat faced this kind of problem. His battle seemed more insurmountable as a massive number of enemies (Moab and Ammon) have encamped against him. The safety of the kingdom was on his shoulders. Then a prophet came to Him (2 Chronicles 20:15) and said that he, Jehoshaphat, need not make a move on this battle for the LORD God Himself will fight. His position was to stand and see the salvation of the LORD.
When Jehoshaphat heard this, he changed the formation of the army. Instead of bringing into the front line the mightiest warriors, he sent the worshippers first, singing "Praise the Lord, for He is good . His mercy and lovingkindess endures forever"(2 Chronicles 20:21). He started praising God even before he and his kingdom was fully delivered from the fangs of the enemies. Such response from Jehoshaphat pleased the LORD that the mighty God of Israel utterly destroyed all the enemies of Jehoshaphat.
One thing we need to learn from this story is Jehoshaphat's heart of thankfulness and praise, even before the enemies were defeated. God must have been so pleased with it that He utterly destroyed the enemies. But take note, Jehoshaphat's worship was a response to the prophet's report. In other words, the victory has not happened yet, but he praised the Lord already. He must have been so persuaded that what the Lord said through the prophet, God is well able to do.
How many of us here begin to thank God only after receiving what we prayed for? The story of Jehoshaphat is a good reminder to all of us that praising God in the difficult times opens the door of deliverance and victory. We need to be fully persuaded to the truth that God is willing and is more than able to save and deliver us no matter how insurmountable the situation looks.
When Jesus saw the multitudes of about five thousand men, not counting women and children, He lifted His eyes to heaven and thanked His Father (John 6:1-14). He knew that God is Jehova Jireh, the Lord our Provider. After He thanked God, the two small fish and five barley loaves were multiplied greatly that it did not only feed the crowd, but had 12 baskets full of left-overs.
On another occasion, Jesus was standing in front of His friend Lazarus' tomb . Lazarus has been dead for four days. Jesus, after declaring that He was the resurrection and the life, stooped down and thanked the Lord. Then He stood up and with a commanding voice, defeated death and called forth Lazarus back to life. And indeed, Lazarus came out, alive again(John 11).
Notice that in the two events, Jesus thanked God even before the miracle took place. He knew that whatever He will ask, God was well able to give.
When we choose to worship God, it is not so much on the praising, but more on the message that we convey to Him when we worship. It's as if we're telling Him "Jesus, I might be facing an enormous, gigantic, and insurmountable situation right now. But I know that when these are brought to you, these things become microscopic. I know that this problem looks bigger than me, but I also know that You are bigger than anything else. So I want to sing about that victory. I want to thank You in advance for my deliverance". When we do this and worship God, faith flows from within us without us even conscious of it. The moment we say this, it denotes a position of rest. And when we rest, God goes to work.
Whatever that's weighing heavy on you right now, shake it off from your shoulders. We always see shampoo advertisements where the model will shake off the dandruff off his shoulders. That's how we should do it. Shake the worries off to the ground and start praising!
Whatever your facing right now, know that just like Jehoshaphat, the Lord is telling you that you need not fight in this battle. God is saying to you right now that He is well able to bring down giants and utterly destroy all your enemies. Shake off that weight and lift up your hands and praise God. When you do that, you magnify the size of our God, instead of magnifying the weight of the problem.
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