Let's just get real for a moment.
Life is hard. I mean really hard.
Life is hard. I mean really hard.
Staying up with a sick baby all night, hard.
Having the flu and still having to pack lunches, carpool, punch in your eight hours, make dinner, and give baths, all while feeling like you were hit by a truck, hard.
Getting the news that your company is downsizing and you will no longer have a job, hard.
Being called into the doctors to hear your lab results were not good, hard.
Hard.
So when the topic of worship comes up during these hard times, it seems like a backwards idea.
Be thankful? How?
Give praise? Why?
Look up? Not even possible because, let's face it, I am sinking here.
For some reason though, Noah got it right.
"And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord... And the Lord smelled a sweet savour." Genesis 8:20,21
The flood was of colossal, destructive proportions. We are talking about an event that literally reshaped the geographic map of the earth. Volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods were only the start. The entire earth's population was wiped out by one fell swoop of God's righteous hand. Whether Noah had friends on earth or not, I do not know. But I do know that he was human. And being human means that the loss of life and creation would tear almosst any heart up.
Did Noah feel devastated and alone? Did he ever question if God's punishment was too harsh? Was he exhausted thinking of all that was ahead? He had to repopulate, reestablish, and rebuild all the world. (I get tired when I think of all the laundry I have for the day!)
So it's mind boggling to me that the first thing that crossed Noah's mind was to worship God. Why? Why don't our minds go to this place?
I can't be the only one to get frustrated when I have to drop $700 on the van a week after we buy a new house.
Please tell me I am not alone in feeling devastated when my plans don't go as I had hoped. Even if those plans are simply having to grocery shop on a Monday instead of my normal Tuesday.
We moan, cry, shake a fist, and even run when trouble comes, but worship?
How often does that cross our mind?
How is Noah so different from me?
Answer: He road the boat.
He was shaking in that ark.Constantly being tossed about as the winds raged and the waves roared. He felt the rumble of the quakes and felt the heat of the explosions. Instead of seeing all the death and destruction around him, however, he saw the saving grace that kept him afloat. He was focused on the fact that he was in that ark, dry, fed, and alive, rather than outside of it... dead.
This was common practice of the great men (and women) of God.
David himself penned the words, "...that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice." (Ps.51)
Job wrote the infamous words, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither;the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)
We all have a choice in this life. We can see the volcano for what it is: destructive, horrific, and scary. (I don't ever mean to diminish the size of one's trials.) But we can be free of fear and worry if we will only look around us and worship God for what He is doing and what He has done.
Thank you God, for supplying a van for our family when we don't deserve it.
Lord, you are so good for keeping me from that situation, even though I wanted it so badly. I believe that you always know what is best.
Jesus, thank you for loving me through this hard time and not leaving me alone.
In those times when we really can't find any good, any strength to worship, or any reason to say 'I love you, Lord', may we take a deep breath. May we ask God to help us worship. He never disappoints.
Be thankful? How?
Give praise? Why?
Look up? Not even possible because, let's face it, I am sinking here.
For some reason though, Noah got it right.
"And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord... And the Lord smelled a sweet savour." Genesis 8:20,21
The flood was of colossal, destructive proportions. We are talking about an event that literally reshaped the geographic map of the earth. Volcanoes, earthquakes, and floods were only the start. The entire earth's population was wiped out by one fell swoop of God's righteous hand. Whether Noah had friends on earth or not, I do not know. But I do know that he was human. And being human means that the loss of life and creation would tear almosst any heart up.
Did Noah feel devastated and alone? Did he ever question if God's punishment was too harsh? Was he exhausted thinking of all that was ahead? He had to repopulate, reestablish, and rebuild all the world. (I get tired when I think of all the laundry I have for the day!)
So it's mind boggling to me that the first thing that crossed Noah's mind was to worship God. Why? Why don't our minds go to this place?
I can't be the only one to get frustrated when I have to drop $700 on the van a week after we buy a new house.
Please tell me I am not alone in feeling devastated when my plans don't go as I had hoped. Even if those plans are simply having to grocery shop on a Monday instead of my normal Tuesday.
We moan, cry, shake a fist, and even run when trouble comes, but worship?
How often does that cross our mind?
How is Noah so different from me?
Answer: He road the boat.
He was shaking in that ark.Constantly being tossed about as the winds raged and the waves roared. He felt the rumble of the quakes and felt the heat of the explosions. Instead of seeing all the death and destruction around him, however, he saw the saving grace that kept him afloat. He was focused on the fact that he was in that ark, dry, fed, and alive, rather than outside of it... dead.
This was common practice of the great men (and women) of God.
David himself penned the words, "...that the bones which thou has broken may rejoice." (Ps.51)
Job wrote the infamous words, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither;the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21)
We all have a choice in this life. We can see the volcano for what it is: destructive, horrific, and scary. (I don't ever mean to diminish the size of one's trials.) But we can be free of fear and worry if we will only look around us and worship God for what He is doing and what He has done.
Thank you God, for supplying a van for our family when we don't deserve it.
Lord, you are so good for keeping me from that situation, even though I wanted it so badly. I believe that you always know what is best.
Jesus, thank you for loving me through this hard time and not leaving me alone.
In those times when we really can't find any good, any strength to worship, or any reason to say 'I love you, Lord', may we take a deep breath. May we ask God to help us worship. He never disappoints.
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