Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving should be more than just a time of year, it should be a lifestyle. For many of the faithful people we read about in the Bible, that’s exactly what it was. We have pages filled with praises for God and His wonders. We have verse after verse that remind us of the great things He has done in the great “story” of salvation. The mere but amazing fact that we are here at all is something to be indescribably grateful for. God is praised for His creation, His works, His wonders, His glories, and the revelation of His word and His will in the Bible itself as well as the Word became flesh, the man Jesus Christ.

Praise should never be on the backburner, but life is not so simple. These very same people that praised God in all these good times are also the ones that Praised God when things got tough. These are the people that praised God in the exile after being removed from the Promised Land. These are the people that praised God despite experiencing losses like David did. These are people that praised God like Peter and Paul did from their prison cells after being beaten and ridiculed.

It is often hard to praise, but it’s important.

Praising God in worship helps us in many ways. In so many ways, the world is working against us. Let us never try to fight these battles alone, or at all. Deuteronomy 31:8 tells us that it’s not our place to do the fighting or our place to do the winning. Instead, we are encouraged to surrender – not to the enemy, but to the Lord. “The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”

Therefore when we struggle to praise, the best thing we can do is pray.

The challenge with this approach is that we might have the wrong idea of prayer. If I could only think of the right words to say. If I could develop a really good argument. If I could make my case, make some valid points then I know my prayer would be answered the way I want it to be. This approach to prayer brings stress upon stress when we know we ought to pray but we don’t know what to say. But that’s exactly what’s wrong with this approach. We need to bring out broken hearts to God, not our fancy words and long-winded, empty prayers.

Therefore when we struggle to praise, the best thing we can do is pray anyway.

Paul has been through a lot. He gave up a lot. He changed his whole life because of Jesus and because of that his whole life was forever changed. Better still, his life was eternally changed. Paul had the faith and humility to praise God even when it was hard or he didn’t know what to say. Now that’s hard to believe! The person who God used through the Holy Spirit to write so many of the books of the New Testament might not know what to say? Well, Paul gives us this wisdom in the book of Romans and he may even be writing from experience:

“In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God’s people in accordance with the will of God.” (Romans 8:26-27).

Did you see that? When we do not know what we ought to pray for the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans. So when you think you don't know what to say, pray anyway.

The best thing we can do, wherever we are in life, whatever is going on, is pray.