Pray and Praise

When I first moved to North Carolina, a long-time resident told me, "If you don't like the weather here, just wait a few minutes, and it will change." I moved to Southeast Georgia about five years later, and a local there told me the same thing. When I moved to West Virginia, you guessed it, "…wait a few minutes, and it will change." Though the weather was different in each place, it's subject to change pretty quickly no matter where you are in the eastern US. It's not uncommon to drive to work in the sunshine and drive home in a torrential downpour.

Life is like that. It can change in an instant. We can wake up expecting a typical, ordinary day, and our world is turned upside down by lunch. The opposite is true as well. You may start the day depressed and downtrodden and on top of the world by supper time. The Bible doesn't promise a trouble-free life, but sometimes it is. Jesus didn't say for nothing, "In the world ye shall have tribulation." On the other hand, remember the second clause, "but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." At the beginning of the book of Job, he had a good life. At the end of the book, he had a good life too. It was different but, in many ways, better. But boy did Job have afflictions in between. Not just hard times but severe afflictions of the greatest sort. Any one of Job's trials would be enough to break some men, but Job had one tragedy after another, after another. Affliction is when you are affected by some lengthy trial or repeated troubler. Whether bodily sickness, grief, sorrow, disappointments, loss, or continued trouble (or when you have them all at once), James gives us instructions on living through affliction and happiness. James 5:13 says, "Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms." Go to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit and find help, comfort, and grace in a trial, and when you are merry, sing psalms. There is a lot of truth in the lyric, "I sing because I'm happy." James directs our happiness to the worship of the Almighty. God ordains our steps, and when those steps are on a smooth and easy path, the wind is at our back, and the sunshine feels good on our face, give thanks by singing praise to the Lord.

A few years ago, John Piper wrote an article before cancer surgery titled, "Don't Waste Your Cancer." His point was even during a great trial, there is an opportunity to worship, witness, and live closer to Christ in suffering. We miss the privilege to live well in abundance or plenty. When you pray in your affliction, it's an act of faith knowing the Father hears you, the Lord cares for you, and the throne of grace is open to you through Jesus Christ, and singing praises acknowledges God's blessings.