Sometimes, life is hard. I know there have been times in my life where it feels like life is just piling things on, one thing after another. You can feel so overwhelmed, to the point where you think you just can’t take it a moment longer. Usually, when this happens, people will either pray for you, which does actually help, or tell you that they’re sorry and that they hope things get better. Sometimes, they tell you to turn to God and pray and just trust Him.
Trusting God is harder than it seems. It’s wrong of us not to, but it’s okay to admit that we are human and sometimes have trust issues. What do you do in those moments when you’re wondering, “Is God going to come through?” When you don’t feel His Presence like you used to and it feels so difficult to believe He’s gonna bring you through. Or, when you lie awake at night, stressing and dwelling on all your problems and you think, “Why isn’t God helping me? Where is he?”
You’re not the first person to think that question. Since the Fall, Man has been going through troubles and trials and hardships and difficulties. There are good times, and then there are also times when we wonder through the wilderness, times where it seems harder to feel God’s Presence.
So, what do you do in those times?
Praise Him.
“Praise Him? How can I do that when I don’t feel like it?” It may be difficult; it may even be one of the hardest things you’ve ever had to do. Even if it feels like you’re lifting a thousand pounds, find a way to praise Him. However you connect with God, whether it’s through music or painting or writing or journaling or quoting Scripture, just take a moment to praise Him.
Worship Him in the times of darkness of your life. I promise you that He will respond in some way or form, even if it isn’t in the timing that you expect Him to. You may have your doubts, you may be only able to think of your problems and wonder where God is. You may not be able to feel His Presence with you at that exact time, but He is still there. Sometimes, we get focused on our problems and that clouds our spiritual vision, which means we don’t see God when He’s still with us. Because He promised to never leave us or forsake us.
God in the good times, in the promised land, on the mountain top is still God in the bad times, in the wilderness, in the valley.
He still created you. He still loves you. With a voice, He breathed the stars and all of life into existence. He takes care of the birds and the lilies. How much more will He take care of you? Everything in nature seeks to praise and worship Him—stars and trees and the rocks and every sunrise and sunset, the beautiful sky above and puppies and horses and deer and the leaves in fall and the blooming flowers in spring and the waves lapping against the shore of a beach and the snowy landscapes in winter… It all exists to show God’s glory.
So should you and I.
What is the one way we can do that? To praise God when we don’t feel like it. It’s one thing to praise Him when things are going good, all hunky-dory. But it’s a whole different one to praise Him when its hard to trust Him or feel Him working in our lives.
God doesn’t just want our praise and worship for His own benefit. There’s something about worshipping our Creator that makes us feel good, because that’s what we were created to do. It will help you feel better, and rise above your circumstances, and maybe even see things from a new perspective—God’s.
Try listening to a worship song or quoting Scripture. Open your Bible at random and see what God has to say. If creation seeks to praise Him, though it exists in the most difficult time of all—the Fall and sin and death and decay—then how much more can we when we’re going through hardships?
If a tree that dies in the winter and remains barren for months at a time, can still bloom in springtime and show you God’s glory, then shouldn’t you do the same? If a star that dies out still shows its light to us many years after its death, should we not do the same?
As an old hymn says, “For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley. When things go wrong, He’ll make them right. And the God of the good times is still God in the bad times. The God of the day is still God in the night.” – A song by Bill Gaither.
