The other day, a really sweet lady we knew while living in Oregon during the 80s and 90s phoned us. We hadn’t spoken with her in years. After talking with her, we sent her the following to encourage her, and as it turns out, we were greatly encouraged by these words, again, as well. “Power in Praise” is a book that’s full of faith. We hope the following blesses you, too.
Excerpts from Merlin Carothers’ book, “Power in Praise.” –
So why do some people hesitate (to praise and thank God in all things)? What are they afraid of?
The young army nurse was afraid to trust herself to a God who could let young soldiers be killed and maimed in battle. She didn’t trust God’s love.
We need have no fear of someone who loves us perfectly, wrote John. His perfect love for us eliminates all dread of what he might do to us. If we are afraid, it is for fear of what he might do to us, and shows that we are not fully convinced that he really loves us (1 John 4:18).
God is love. Everything He does is love in action. Our problem is we have such a limited picture of what love is all about. We’ve all been hurt and disappointed by human love, the kind that rewards us and accepts us when we’re good and punishes and rejects us when we’re bad. But that is not like God’s love at all.
God’s command to us is that we praise him, too – even if our lips tremble in fear and we shake in terror over the outward circumstances of His plan for us.
Through the prophet Isaiah, God told His people that He intended to raise up King Cyrus of Persia to conquer and crush many nations. King Cyrus didn’t know the Lord, but God intended to use him to bring the Jewish captives home from Babylon and rebuilt the temple and Jerusalem.
Why would God choose Cyrus, a heathen king, to carry out His purposes? To those who would question Him, God answered, I form the light and make the dark. I send good times and bad. I, Jehovah, am he who does these things… Woe to the man who fights with his Creator. Does the pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with him who forms it, saying, “Stop, you are doing it wrong!” or the pot exclaim, “How clumsy can you be?” … Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, Israel’s Creator, says: What right have you to question what I do? Who are you to command Me concerning the work of My hands? I have made the earth and created man upon it. With My hands I have stretched out the heavens and commanded all the vast myriads of stars. I have raised up Cyrus to fulfill My righteous purpose, and I will direct all his paths… (Isaiah 45:7, 9, 11-13)
When we refuse to see God’s hand in every situation around us, we are like the pot arguing with its maker. We say, “Now if I were God, I certainly wouldn’t do it that way. I wouldn’t send an earthquake to Peru, or let that little girl die of leukemia, or allow that preacher to thunder untruth from the pulpit leading gullible people astray… and I certainly wouldn’t allow drug-pushers to tempt little children.
God knows how we feel about these things and how limited our understanding is. He spoke through the prophet Isaiah: This plan of mine is not what you would work out, neither are My thoughts the same as yours! For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than yours, and My thoughts than yours. As the rain and snow come down from heaven and stay upon the ground to water the earth, and cause the grain to grow and to produce seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry, so also is My Word. I send it out and it always produces fruit. It shall accomplish all I wanted to, and prosper everywhere I send it. (Isaiah 55:8-11)
Our skepticism and disappointment in God’s plan is rooted in a distrust of God. We are not convinced that He has our best interest in mind.
I (Merlin) have met many people who are able to praise God for their circumstances, simply because they accept the Word of the Bible that they are supposed to praise God in everything. Praising Him, they soon experience the results of an attitude of consistent thanksgiving and joy; and in turn, their faith is strengthened, and they can continue to live this way.
Others find it a little more difficult.
“I just don’t understand,” they say, “I try praising God, but it is so hard for me to believe that He really has a hand in all the horrible things that have happened to me lately.”
We say we don’t understand, and some of us get stuck right there; our understanding becomes a real stumbling block in our relationship with God. But God has a perfect plan for our understanding, and when we use it His way, it isn’t a stumbling block, but a wonderful aid to our faith.
For God is the King of all the earth, said the psalmist. Sing praises in a skillful psalm and with understanding (Ps 47:7 Amp.).
We’re not supposed to push our understanding out of the way, grit our teeth, and say, “It doesn’t make sense to me, but I’ll praise the Lord if it kills me, if that’s the only way I can get out of this mess!”
That’s not praising, that manipulating. We’ve all tried to manipulate God, and it is wonderful to know that He loves us too much to let us get away with it! We are to praise God with our understanding, not in spite of it.
Our understanding gets us into trouble when we try to figure out why and how God brings certain circumstances into our lives.
We can never understand why and how does something, but he wants us to accept with our understanding the He does it. This is the basis of our praise. God wants us to understand the He loves us and that he had a plan for us.
And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into His plans (Rom. 8:28).
Are your surrounded by difficult circumstances right now? Have you been struggling to understand why they have come to you? Then try to accept with your understanding that God does love you and has allowed those circumstances because He knows that He can bring good out of this for you. Praise Him for what He has brought into your life; do it deliberately and with your understanding.
We love you all.
God bless,
Mark and Ann