Praise Will Be My Breakthrough

 

Praise will be my breakthrough. My song will be my triumph. Worship is my warfare. My victory is in You, Jesus, my victory is in You. 

This week I heard some news about a loved one that is really hard and has an unknown outcome. My mind feels wobbly, going back and forth between faith and fear. I've learned that right in the middle of the unknown, that uneasy, uncomfortable place is the best moment to worship. It's so simple and easy to worship when all is sunny. This is no sacrifice on my part. It's when my moments feel unsure, unsafe, disappointing, painful, etc. that worship becomes a sacrifice of praise. 

I've been thinking about King David this morning. When he was a young boy, Samuel the prophet came to him and anointed him to be king of Israel. In between this moment and the actual coronation was the unknown process God used to prepare David for the palace. Many years passed before David was crowned. In fact, so many circumstances during this time of waiting looked like Samuel was a liar! That the promise wasn't true. David fled for his life from King Saul. He was living in caves, a fugitive in his own land. He wasn't safe anywhere he went. This is as far from leading the kingdom as he could be.  During this time, David wrote what we call Psalm 57. But to him, it was a cry of his heart to the Lord in the midst of the unsure, the unsafe, the disappointing and the painful. 

Verse 4 David sings, "My soul is in the midst of lions; I lie down amid fiery beasts - the children of man, whose teeth are spears and arrows, whose tongues are sharp swords."  He's making known his hardship to God. Every circumstance was echoing the serpent in the garden, "Did God really say...? I mean, look at where you are now, David! Where is God for you?" But then, David's words in verse 8-11...

"My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! I will sing and make melody! Awake my soul! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! I will give thanks to You, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to You among the nations. For Your steadfast love is great to the heavens, Your faithfulness to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let Your glory be over all the earth!"

The easy and simple thing to do here is to give up, to give in to hopelessness and fear, to give in to disillusionment. Not David. He was a man after God's own heart. He offered up a sacrifice of praise, when nothing made sense. His worship rose up to declare God's character. He silenced the serpent of doubt and brought his soul in alignment with God's goodness and faithfulness. 

A sacrifice of praise...what is that? It's something we can only bring to God while here on earth, which is a mere blip in time if we truly believe we have eternal life in Him. My 70, 80, 90 years is so short in comparison. It's not a large amount of time to worship God in our earthly flesh suit. Once released from this flesh suit, we'll be worshiping God fully in spirit...no pain, no doubt, no grief...just the fullness of God's presence. No need for faith and belief, for all will be seen and known when we see Jesus. If that's true, then how precious to Him is worship through pain? worship through doubt? worship through grief? So precious is this offering that David says God stores our tears in a bottle and keeps count of our tossings (Psalm 56:8)! He collects them like treasures. This time on earth is the only time we have to give God sacrifices of praise and OH! How delighted He is when we worship Him in doubt and the unknown! Worshiping God through faith in the middle of the unsure or disappointing...how drawn God is to this! My heart is steadfast, O God, my heart is steadfast! 

This is powerful worship! This is why worship is a weapon. When the serpent came to Adam and Eve and raised those degrading, doubtful questions about God, the One they walked with every day, the One they knew intimately face to face, they had one tool to use...against this voice. It's the same voice, same message Goliath used against the Israelites that struck fear in the camp. It's the same voice satan uses in our own circumstances. But worship is power. It's the tool that Adam and Eve should've used in the Garden. It's the tool that David used to defeat the giant. And we have a choice, too. I have a choice. I can allow that evil voice to continue defying the character of my God whom I've walked with intimately or I can take up my worship and silence the enemy with my praise. 

Praise will be my breakthrough. My song will be my triumph. Worship is my warfare. My victory is in You, my victory is in You.