Praise Anyway!
God is Able
Psalm 35:1,2
How are we to handle imprecatory psalms – psalms where the writer calls down God’s judgement on his enemies? We naturally think of Jesus’ command to forgive our enemies. One helpful solution is to replace the psalmist’s “enemies” in our thinking and reading with the Christian’s greatest enemy, Satan. You’ll be surprised how much sense doing this makes of not only this psalm but others like Psalm 59 and 109.
But if we do find ourselves in situations as difficult as the psalms just mentioned describe, what do we do? We offer praise in the midst of the turmoil. That’s not the same as offering praise for the turmoil. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” There’s a difference between giving thanks in all circumstances, and giving thanks for all circumstances. God’s will is that we give thanks in the circumstances, not for the circumstances.
Many times our giving thanks in awful circumstances opens up our hearts up to giving thanks for them, but it’s usually a whole lot easier to start thanking God despite what’s happening around us, before we could ever thank Him because of it.
So determine in your heart to be thankful – in good times or in bad.
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