Praising Him In The Valley

It is funny how quickly things in this life can change and how dramatically they can change. One moment we can be on the tip top of the highest mountain, taking in all the beauty that the surrounding vantage point has to offer, and the next we can be thrown off said mountain into the deepest pits of despair and anguish. If there is one thing I have learned it’s that we are always in motion emotionally. We can never seem to stay in one emotion for too long. We may be happy and on top of the world for a while but the inevitable will happen and we will come to a place to where we find ourselves in the valley, many times unexpectedly. Two weeks ago I wrote a blog about trusting God and how everything happens for a reason and now the very thing I blogged about and the thing that was coming so easily is the very thing that I am having trouble with now. Two weeks ago I was on top of the world, filled with joy, trusting God, resting in His peace and now I find myself frustrated, confused about where God is leading me, getting frustrated at the smallest things, dealing with an extreme case of loneliness, feeling sick a majority of the time, and not being able to find His peace no matter what I do. It seems like a complete 180 from where I was and it came out of nowhere. I find myself asking God “what are you trying to teach me?” And the answer I have been getting is that He is teaching me to praise Him even in the valley.

                Praising Him in the valley is something that is easier said than done and at certain times that spirit of praise can seem more like a burden or a falsehood depending on where we are in life. We find ourselves singing of how good God is and how amazing His peace is when in our minds and our hearts we question God’s goodness and lack His peace. We may feel like liars or like we are putting up a false front when we praise Him during the tribulation so we stop praising Him all together. Better to not praise Him than to sing things that we question right? Better to be silent then a liar right? As I ponder these questions I am brought to the book of Psalms and the life of David. Now anyone who has read the Bible or even been to Sunday school knows about David. The boy who slew the giant, the shepherd who became king, a man after God’s own heart. The Bible portrays David in such a light that all the kings of Israel and Judah after him are compared to him. He is made out to be a man who regularly communicated with God and who God always favored, but when one comes to the Psalms a different picture seems to take shape. One will find a very real man who deals with very real circumstances. One can find him on mountaintops but most of the time one will find him in the valley and in the bleakest circumstances. Many of the Psalms show a man who is literally crying out to God, day and night, on his face weeping, asking God where he is and how long it will be before God comes to him. An example of this is Psalm 13 where David asks:

“How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?”- Psalm 13:1-2 (NIV)

We find David in a place where God is silent. A place where pain and sadness plague him on a day to day basis. Here we are given a portrait of a man who is dealing with very real human emotions. We find a man questioning where God is and what God is doing. When one looks through the Psalms they will come to the conclusion that this is not a one-time occurance nor is it even a rare occurance, but rather this is an occurance that one finds in a majority of the Psalms. Based on the description of David one would expect that David would be found happy and full of God’s joy and peace but we find the exact opposite. We find a man in pain, a man struggling, a man who is filled with sorrow, anger, strife, and anything but peace but look how David ends Psalm 13

“But I trust in your unfailing love, my heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord for He has been good to me”- Psalm 13:5-6

Even in the midst of sorrow David still praises God. He sings to the Lord and rejoices in the salvation that comes with knowing God. He says that the Lord HAS been good to him, not that the Lord is good to him, which signifies that at that moment David might not have been able to find any specific thing to praise God for, so he chose to praise Him for what He had done in the past. This is a pattern that many will find in reading David’s Psalms. He finds himself in bleak and unrelenting circumstances, circumstances without hope of rescue, but most of the time one finds him ending the psalm with praises to God.

In my opinion I think that the reason that David was called a man after God’s own heart was in large part due to his attitude towards God. He realized that God deserves praise and honor no matter the circumstances. David chose to praise Him despite the valley surrounding him. He understood that even if all we have is what God did in the past, it is still more than enough to praise Him for, that even if darkness seems to be knocking at our door and death is lurking in the corner making ready to strike, He is still worthy of praise, if for no other reason than He is God. When you find yourself in the valley, choose to praise Him, choose to remember all the things He has done for you, and choose to sing of His greatness. Praise Him in the Valley