Praising God in the midst of the storm
April 27, 2020 | Greg Rankin
About this post: We want to stay connected! This blog post is part of a series of daily devotionals for this season. Read them, share them, and pray that they bring God's peace and love to our communities. To sign up to receive text notification of these posts, text ZPCDevo to 317.768.0600. We welcome your comments and questions each day.
About the Author: The Rankins have been members at ZPC for about 12 years. They live just north of Broad Ripple and have a daughter, Hadley, who just graduated from IU, and a son, Ben, who is one of many seniors in high school missing prom, his final baseball season, and graduation. No time is good for a pandemic, but our kids are among those suffering quietly (or not so quietly :) during this time.
Today’s Scripture: Psalm 57
1 Be gracious to me, God, be gracious to me,
for I take refuge in You.
I will seek refuge in the shadow of Your wings
until danger passes.
2 I call to God Most High,
to God who fulfills His purpose for me.[b]
3 He reaches down from heaven and saves me,
challenging the one who tramples me.Selah
7 My heart is confident, God, my heart is confident.
I will sing; I will sing praises.
8 Wake up, my soul![c]
Wake up, harp and lyre!
I will wake up the dawn.
9 I will praise You, Lord, among the peoples;
I will sing praises to You among the nations.
10 For Your faithful love is as high as the heavens;
Your faithfulness reaches the clouds.
11 God, be exalted above the heavens;
let Your glory be over the whole earth.
I know several have said this already, but I love the Psalms. When life gets hard, this is where I run to talk to God and to be assured that he is in control and that he always has me. Dozens of the Psalms are wonderful in our hardest times. Psalms 33, 34, 46, 57, and 98 seem especially fitting right now.
In 57, like some of these others, we are simply given that opportunity to praise God in the midst of the storm and to seek his protection. We are reminded that he is definitely in charge and none of this is a surprise to him. He will use it for our ultimate good and to draw us closer to him and to each other. So cry out, pound your fist, look to the sky in confusion. And then take a breath and rest in the Lord, knowing that one day we will understand our journey and its challenges better. In the meantime, we can worship him and sing praises to him because we know that God is always good, he loves us, and will bring us through this and all of our troubles.
Activity:
Just for fun – because we can all use some of that right now – go to this link and see the joy in the faces of thousands of youth brought together to worship the Lord. If you have little ones, put it up on the TV and let them jump along with these big kids! We have sung this at ZPC several times so maybe you can join in. (click the little “cc” in the bottom corner for lyrics)
Prayer:
Dear Lord,
Thank you for reminding me that you are God, and that I can always rely on your love, grace and mercy. Help me to be filled with your joy and to praise you with my whole heart and mind. And I thank you now for the coming victory over this and all of our troubles.
Amen.