Praise During A Storm

Storms. Everyone's seen or heard of one. They're either quick and painless, or wreak havoc on everyone in the way and there's no in between. Just recently, the area I live in in New Jersey was terribly hit by hurricane Sandy. Though where I live, in the northern part of the state, didn't get it as bad as the southern beach areas, though the storm didn't effect me directly, I was still left with the bitter realization of what the storm had done to others. 

Thankfully, through months of recovery and restoration, help from loved ones and strangers, and time, it seems though as New Jersey is somewhat almost normal again. 

Storms in people's lives are so similar. We're either affected or we're not. If it's us, if we're the victim of the storm, we feel hopeless, useless, empty and just the way Sandy left everything in Jersey: big piles of garbage. If it's not us, if we just know someone going through one, we have to watch ourselves stay unaffected while the people we love are suffering through something we can't understand. 

A while ago, someone I love dearly was going through a storm that I couldn't help him or her through and I knew very well that I couldn't possibly understand. Though it wasn't me, though I wasn't hit by the flooding and fallen trees of their storm, I felt the pain. 

Praise turns that pain to joy, doesn't it though? 

Praising God in a storm is the hardest thing- like ever! Cause when things are great we're like, "Yes! Praise be to God our provider and lover and breaker of chains and savior of our souls! Yay!" 

Sadly, something I've realized, even within myself (remember, we're learning this together) is that we're humans. So sad right. But we're humans and we're a  circumstantial people. Encouragement, love, anger, tips at restaurants, our tone to others. Everything we do is circumstantial; it's a product of who someone else is or what they've done or what we're feeling. 

And sadly, praise has been clumped into that category of circumstantiality (I hope that's a word). We praise God when He provides and when someone is healed. We praise God when there are a ton of people at church this Sunday or when we're praying and we feel His Spirit is present. 

But when we're in a storm, when it's raining hard down in our souls and trees are falling left and right in our hearts, we forget to praise God. "Forget." Or we're too depressed. Or we're mad at ourselves for what we've done and we don't wanna face God. Somehow it slips our mind who God is. 

We forget that the God who provided and healed yesterday is the same God, whether you're going through a storm or relaxing in perfect beach weather. 

Today I want to talk about praise in a storm, because it's a lot deeper than reading your Bible when you're disappointed in yourself. 

1) Whether you like it or not, God is worthy of praise in a storm. 

Psalm 148 is very clear about who should give praise to God: everyone. 

Angels and armies in heaven - He is their ruler. 

Sun and moon and twinkling stars; earth and ocean depths - He is their creator. 

Small animals, kings of the earth and all people - He is their master. 

The things they all do on a daily basis brings praise to Him. When birds chirp in the sky. When the sun shines and the stars twinkle hours later. They are like a choir to our God, our creator, our ruler who deserves praise. 

• Praise Him because the storm is not Him trying to trap you. 

This is kinda self explanatory. James 1:13-14 says this:

"And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say 'God is tempting me.' God is never tempted to do wrong, and He never tempts anyone else. Temptation comes from our own desires which entice us and drag us away." 

Now, this doesn't mean you're not living out God's will for your life because you're going through a temptation or hard time. I don't remember where (no judging. Jesus is watching), but somewhere in the Bible is says, "You have allowed me to suffer much hardship, but You will restore me to life again." God is always fighting for us whether we know it or not, so sometimes He will allow certain things and storms to come our way. I can't tell you why, since I'm not God but from MY personal experience it's been to help other people with that issue, to build me upon the rock that is Jesus and to inch closer to what His plan is for me. And in the end, I was feeling emotions that were beside me. Not broken. Not scarred. Not mad. Appreciative. Thankful. Full of praise. 

• Praise Him because He took your SHAME 

I went to a spoken Word poetry night and I don't remember her name, but one girl (I will edit this when I find out) said something to the effect of this in her poem: 

Jesus was hanging naked on a cross. Yes, He was naked. Churches have Him covered up but He wasn't because He didn't only take our sins and guilt but He took our shame. 

Why is He worth our praise in a storm? Because what we're going through, He went through. He went through it naked, scarred and bleeding, beauty hanging from a tree, and He wants to help us. He wants to help us, the ones who nailed Him down. I think that deserves some praise. 

•  Praise Him because love has 20/20 vision

I love the expression love is blind. I love it because I can't quite catch the meaning. Love walks around with a guide dog? Love walks around is circles? Love has no idea where's it's going? I don't quite understand it. But it makes me think that most people don't know love. 

To be honest, I want to praise Him because a king was crushed to a pulp and nailed to a tree so that I wouldn't be attached to satan at the hip, and that's true love. That's love. 

And love is not blind. Love has 20/20 vision. 

Love knew who you were, what you would do. Love knew you would be promiscuous. Love knew you would deny Him. Love knew you would be a drug, alcohol and pornography addict and STILL chose to die for you. Love is not blind. Love has perfect vision and the only thing He sees with it is the future you will have if He makes this sacrifice. 

And I don't know about you, but storm or not, addiction or not, chains or not, I think He is praise-worthy. 

2) Praise your shackles off 

Some of the hardest storms to endure are those of personal addiction. It's hard to praise when you can't see Jesus over the mountain. It's hard to praise when you don't know a life without that thing you're chained to.

And it's so easy to feel alone. To feel like you're suffering alone and the only time you can see Jesus through the trial is afterward and all you can imagine is Him shaking His head at you, disappointed. But that's not our God. 

•  Until God opens another door for you, PRAISE HIM IN THE HALLWAY. 

Shackles are nothing compared to our God. Shackles around our bodies look like yarn compared to our God. Praise Him. 

Break through those shackles, not only praising Him when those chains are off, but praising Him while you're still bound and refusing to let that stop you from living out His dream for you.

In Ephesians 6:20, Paul says something that shocks me every time, "I am in chains now, still preaching this message as God's ambassador. So pray that I will keep on speaking boldly for Him, as I should." 

He didn't bother to ask the Ephesians to pray his chains would fall off, but his sole request was asking them to pray that they wouldn't hinder him. God still used him. How do I know? Because the man died in prison and I'm still reading his letters 2000 years later. 

So yes, I think it's extremely smart to pray that God will help you through your storm and change it and heal you. But God doesn't care what is hindering you because He is rooting for you and that changes everything. A better prayer, in my opinion, is praying that God will still help you accomplish what you were knit in your mothers womb to accomplish, despite the chains. 

• Until God breaks your chains, PRAISE HIM WITH YOUR SHACKLES ON. 

Personal story: 

There is an on-going storm, chain, addiction, battle -- whatever you want to call it -- that I have been going through for the past 8 years. 

And I'm only 19. 

And after falling into this temptation and needing forgiveness again just last week (yeah, Christians aren't perfect. Go figure)  I found myself unable to praise Him. Not unwilling but unable. And as I laid my head down on my pillow, I felt Jesus next to me and I cried out to Him. 

I was angry that God let this happen to me at such a young age. 

I was angry that I couldn't control myself. 

I felt fake and dirty and worthless. 

And I'll be real and raw with you, I felt like I wanted to die. 

And I kept thinking to myself, "God of the universe, breaker of chains, savior of souls, giver of life, maker of all things new. Why won't you take this from me? Won't you just let me be free?" 

And I felt so strongly on my heart that if Jesus died for the entire world and all the people in it, but only one person changed their life and turned it around, He would do it over again. And that struck me like a knife. 

And I began to praise Him and I said, out loud, if I have to suffer with this for years and years, but in the end I can help one person, I regret nothing. 

And I began to praise Him because only He can make a girl who was a danger to herself a bringer of hope and because only He could make an addict sing with freedom and only He could make a sinner a leader and a lover.  

•  Telling someone could bring Him praise, and bring you to praising Him. 

I'm not very open about this issue of mine, but I knew I needed to be. I needed to be held accountable, I needed to be encouraged and understood but I also needed to be loved to freedom. 

I told someone that I trust with every bone in my body and, to my surprise, she had been through the same thing, if not worse than me. And had been "clean off the 'drug'" for a few months now. 

I was able to praise God because I knew He healed her, and I think she was able to praise God that something she suffered with for years, like I did, would benefit her as she would help lead someone out of the dark. 

But if anything, the praise in me wasn't that I felt a lot better about what I had done, but that I had a new found hope in Jesus for what He hasn't done quite yet, but I believe He is ABLE to do. 


 3) Why do we praise during a storm?

• It confuses the devil

The devil is such a touchy subject among Christians and non-Christians alike. But as the father of lies, I think he takes a little joy in our storms and misfortunes, to say the least.

But there is nothing  more confusing to the devil than seeing you praise God when you should be distancing yourself from God. And there is nothing better for us than to foil the devil's plan, hand in hand with God.

Don't give satan a stage; praise God through a storm.

• It allows hope to become our anchor

Praising God goes hand in hand with having hope in Him. Jesus is our hope, and hope is our anchor (Hebrews 6:19). 

Hope in Him should be the anchor of your praise during a storm; hope in what He is able to do/ will do for you should be the anchor of your prayers and cries to Him. 

But we need to praise Him and trust that He will do a work in us. 

• It makes us stronger

Praise during a storm is like, cardio workout mixed with Spin classes and leg day. It makes us so strong! But it makes us strong in Him. 

Praising Him during a storm helps make our spirits stronger when our flesh has just 1+up'd us.It also give us the confidence to do what it says in Romans 4:17, "to call the things that are not as though they are." 

Thank you, God, that I am free.

Thank you, God, that my chains will be broken.

Thank you, God, that I am free to live out Your dream for me.

It's crazy how many times I've thanked God in advance. For the issue I was writing about earlier, I have been thanking God for almost two years in advance for my freedom. And though it seems I'm still struggling, I am trusting God and praising God and no storm is gonna stop me.