stubborn praise - psalm 146 - 17th week thursday

Sometimes we ask, how can I praise God in the midst of calamity, in the midst of so many pains?  How can I praise God when I have so many problems, when I am aware of so many inadequacies in myself?  Siguro if I am bright, and handsome, and my parents are rich, and I have no problems, then I can praise God.  But in the midst of suffering and fear, how can I praise God?

Here now is the lesson of psalm 146.  Be stubborn in your praise.  Even if you find difficulty in praising God because of what is happening in your life, nevertheless praise God.  Even if you feel angry, even if you feel a failure, even in sorrow, even if you don't feel like it, praise God.  Praising God is an act of discipline.  

 Praising God should not be determined by external happiness or successes.  Praising God is an act of defiance to the world and its values:  sorrow cannot make me stop from praising God for grief is not my fate and I look forward to the happiness that awaits those who trust in God; my poverty and lack cannot make me stop from praising God because I know that personal contentment is not in possessions; my failures cannot make me stop from praising God because I know I am more than my failures, I am loved for who I am, warts and all; my fears cannot stop me from praising God for I believe that God accompanies me and will not abandon me; my friends may abandon me, powerful men may put me down but that will not stop me from praising God for I put my trust in God alone for men cannot be trusted.  With the psalmist we say, "I will praise the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God while I live."

Praising God can change my outlook.  That is why we are stubborn in our praise of God, we do not give up praising God – for when we praise God all our lives despite of and in spite of, we change the way we look at things in our lives.