Worship in the tough seasons of life

WORSHIPPING IN HARD TIMES

Psalm 34:1 I will bless the LORD at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Life is not a smooth road. It’s easier to worship God when things are going well, when the money is flowing in, when people are singing your praise but the test of whether you love God really comes through when tough times hit. Can you like David boldly claim that I will bless the Lord at all times? Let’s look at some of the tough seasons of life :

• WHEN A LOVED ONE DIES

I believe one of the hardest times any person ever goes through is when a loved one passes away. This is a very trying time and in such cases we usually start questioning God. The thing we should always be aware of is that God is not caught off guard by our circumstances, rather than being angry at God we have to go to him so that he can heal us and give us strength to move on. Let’s look at what David did when a loved one passed away:

2 Samuel 12:18-23  And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?But when David saw that his servants whispered, David perceived that the child was dead: therefore David said unto his servants, Is the child dead? And they said, He is dead.Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread.And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

How many of us would respond to death by worshipping God? The honest truth is many of us would curse God, or maybe that’s the season we say we don’t want to hear about God, we don’t want to go to church and so on. David response amazed me. Surely this is why he was a man after God’s heart.

• WHEN YOU LOSE YOUR JOB

It’s always easy to worship when things are going well but when things go south it is hard to worship him. However this is the time that we have to worship him even more than before. I know when you lose your job you start thinking: how are the bills going to be paid? How and when will I get another job? Why did this happen to me? In the midst of all these questions worship God and look to him for the solutions. I find that in my times of worship I get ideas, I get direction and I get strength.

• DURING A DIVORCE OR A BREAK UP

Your wife/husband has just left you, this is not an easy road and worshipping God might be the last thing on your mind but through it all you have to look up to him.

So you break up with a girl/boy you thought you would spend the rest of your life with. GET OVER IT, worship God.

• DURING SICKNESS

When your body is hurting and you cannot understand why that sickness is in your body, that’s the time to worship God. Believe God for healing and in the process worship him, thanking him for the healing.

Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases;Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies;Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s. ( Psalm 103 :1-5 )

It is important that we worship God during hard times because if we remove our focus from God it’s very easy for us to fall into sin, it’s easy for us to charge God foolishly not understanding that the enemy is orchestrating hard times in an attempt to disconnect us from the Father. Take Job as an example of one who worshipped in hard times and did not get disconnected. This was his response to his situation:

Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,  And said, 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. In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. ( Job 1:20-22 )

Yes hard times will come, trying days will come but like David let us declare:

One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock. And now shall mine head be lifted up above mine enemies round about me: therefore will I offer in his tabernacle sacrifices of joy; I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the LORD. ( Psalm 27:4-6 )

Take note that we do not worship God for the hard times but we worship God regardless of the hard times.

In Acts 16 we have a story of Paul and Silas who are beaten up and thrown into prison for casting a demon out of a girl. I mean surely when you are beaten and thrown into prison for doing a good deed you are not in the best of moods, surely you will be low on motivation and so on. We can only imagine what Paul and Silas were going through. Let’s pick up the story from verse 25-26

And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one’s bands were loosed.

What does worshipping in hard times do for you?

• It shakes the foundations of your problem
• It opens doors for you
• It loosens chains binding you
• It shows other people the glory of God
• It brings Salvation