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MUSIC BLOG

06-27-2024

God Inhabits the Praise

I remember playing a cassette tape in my car years ago.  When I went to seminary in 1980, I had no job and no place to live.  I went through several part time jobs before I found a church opening in Jewett Texas.  It was a church that had an apartment for a seminary student and was a Friday through Monday job.  Jewett was about 2 hours from Ft. Worth so I would leave Ft. Worth after class on Friday and head south to Jewett.  Playing music kept me awake.  It also prepared me for the ministry opportunities that would come that weekend.

The day I’m thinking about was when I was listening to Sandy Patti’s album, “We Shall Behold Him”.  It had been raining off and on while I was heading south.  I was humming along and enjoying the ride.  As the title song came on, I looked up into the clouds. As the soloist sang, “The skies shall unfold, preparing His entrance . . .” I kid you not, the skies opened, and a ray of sunshine pierced through the storm clouds.  The brilliance of the beam was in stark contrast to the dark and formidable cloud bank.  My eyes were riveted to the cloud.  I fully expected to see Jesus at any moment.  Even now as I think about that moment, my pulse quickens.  The tears flowed freely down my face.  It was a pivotal time of personal worship.  I knew God was with me in the car that day.

I experienced something that I knew in my brain.  “The Lord inhabits the praises of His people”.  Psalm 22:3

22 My God, my God, why have You forsaken me? Far from my help are the words of my groaning.

2 My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest.

3 Yet You are holy, You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel.

4 In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You rescued them.

5 To You they cried out and they fled to safety; In You they trusted and were not disappointed.

The Psalmist knew that God is Holy and is indeed enthroned upon the praises of Israel.  But as the verses before and after reveal, the Psalmist’s heart is burdened with worry and angst.  “Why have you forsaken me?” he cries.  “Far from my heart are the words of my groaning”.  His heart is full of sorrow and God is seemingly nowhere to be found.  And yet, he says, “Yet . . .” You see, even though his heart is burdened and heavy, he knows something that his heart doesn’t know.  “God is enthroned upon the praises of His people.”  I experienced that “enthroning” that day on the road to Jewett.  At that moment, nothing mattered, except God.  I was broke, flat busted, with barely enough money for gas, but it didn’t matter. There was no felt need I had which was not met in that encounter.  I was lacking nothing at that moment. God was totally sufficient.

I wished that truth was something I lived in every day.  I find that I have to return to that precious moment and be reminded of God's sufficiency and overwhelming goodness.  It happens most often when I praise Him.  When I remember His sacrifice, His worthiness, His great love and mercy. It happens when I remember what He’s done for me and the place of ministry He has given me. Those feelings of God’s blessing are sadly remiss when I only consider my struggle and pain.  When I wallow in my self-centeredness God’s help escapes my grasp.  Even calling out to God is not as effective and overwhelming as when I take the time to praise Him.

In less than a week, I head out on a Mission Trip.  I will sing Songs of Praise with 19 other Christians from Baptist churches across the southeast.  Please pray that God will indeed inhabit our praises.  Pray that while we sing, we will remember these precious promises that God has made to each of us.

There is power in praise!

Blessings,

Marty