September 3, 2018

Praising in the Darkness

By Maria Fontaine

Audio length: 5:07
Download Audio (4.6MB)

Many bad things happen every day in this world, and we as Christians are not exempt from experiencing some of these things. We face hardships and painful experiences, which can disrupt our peace of mind, hinder our accomplishing what Jesus has asked us to do, and at times even threaten to weaken our faith. But Jesus has promised to work all things, both the good and the bad, together to bring a good result in the end for us who love Him.

In order to find the good in the things we experience, we need to look to the Lord and fight the good fight of faith. We need to hold on and trust God. As we do, He has promised to do what we can’t—to bring good from these difficult experiences, either in this life or the life to come.

When troubles and difficulties come, reminding ourselves of God’s goodness and care for us, and praising Him for it, can be one of the best ways to rise above sadness and discouragement. That sounds easy when you’re looking in from the outside, but when you’re in the middle of a struggle, it can be really difficult to take that step of being praiseful. Maybe the most you can manage to say is, “Thank You, Jesus.”

If that’s what you can give at that moment, God will honor it. He knows how much trust and faith that requires. He knows you are giving Him the “sacrifice of praise.”¹ To you it might not seem like those words “thank You, Jesus” are really that meaningful. However, even taking that small step can guide your spirit in the right direction toward Him and away from the negative things that threaten to overwhelm you.

I’ve recently realized something I could do that would give me a way to more easily and quickly express praise in the face of troubles. I have a compilation of songs in the category “praise in hard times.” When I hear of something major that has happened, or even something small that I’m personally frustrated about, I listen to these songs. They remind me of the many things I have to be grateful for and how I can praise the Lord in the midst of darkness. The music helps nudge and motivate me to sing along.

Even after the song is over, I feel that it has made some grooves in my mind and I have something that I can repeat and sing to myself, even without the musical accompaniment. This has been a great boost to my prayer/praise life, giving me an effective way to praise the Lord in the big things and in the small, in the wonderful things and in the difficult ones.

One of my favorite songs, “I Bless Your Name,” talks about how, when Paul and Silas, in prisoner’s chains and with bleeding stripes began to sing, God loosed their chains and they were free. Most of us don’t have literal chains, but we might be “in the prison of our minds” as we struggle with troubles and trying experiences that we can’t seem to overcome. We can reach out and break those chains by manifesting our faith and trust in Jesus through our praise.

These songs remind me that not only should I praise when I have abundance in pleasant places, but also when I find myself “in the desert place,” “in the wilderness,” and “when the darkness closes in.” Even though the road may be “marked with suffering” and there may be “pain in the offering,” by His grace, I can still praise His name.

I hear these songs reminding me that Satan is a liar who “wants to make us think that we are paupers instead of children of the King,” but all we have to do to resist him is to lift up the mighty shield of faith and praise the Lord. He inhabits the praise of His people.

As one of the songs says, “The chains that seem to bind us, serve only to remind us, that they will drop powerless behind us, when we praise Him. “

Below are the links to a few of these songs that are a blessing to me. I pray these are a blessing to you, too.

I Bless Your Name

Blessed Be Your Name

Praise the Lord

Originally published November 2015. Adapted and republished September 2018.
Read by Debra Lee.

¹ Hebrews 13:15.

Posted in: audio, faith, maria fontaine, music, positive thinking, praise and thanksgiving