Passionately Pursuing God Through Our Praise

Acts 16:22-26
The crowd joined in the attack against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates ordered them to be stripped and beaten. After they had been severely flogged, they were thrown into prison, and the jailer was commanded to guard them carefully. Upon receiving such orders, he put them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.

I’m exhausted! My son has not been sleeping well, and life seems to have increased 10-fold in the last couple of weeks. Yesterday, between the screaming baby and my daughter running around, wild, playing with the even wilder dog, I just wanted to plop down in the middle of my living room, with tears rolling down my face, stick out my bottom lip, and scream "I GIVE UP!!" I want a vacation.

Life has been crazy, to say the least, and obviously exhausting. Getting lost in my "to-do lists," daily chores, dirty diapers, and all the toys my daughter has strewn around the house, I was beginning to think that pursuing God would just have to wait. And yet, the whole point of this pursuit is that it would happen daily, in the midst of life, not when life is on hold or riding the perfect wave. It is something we must do in the thick of life, even during the "crisis-hour" - that is when it is most crucial!

I love this part of Paul and Silas’ testimony - praying and singing hymns in prison, even after a severe flogging. I’m sure they were not cozy and comfortable - I would imagine that they were very uncomfortable and cold, but they did not let that affect them or their attitude. I wonder, would I have done that? Probably not. I probably would have plopped down on the prison floor (if my chains would even reach), tears and blood streaming down my face, stuck out my bottom lip, and cried and complained to God, "IT’S NOT FAIR! I GIVE UP!!" Maybe I’m the only one, but I doubt it - that seems to be the tendency these days - to expect life to be perfect, and fair, and when it’s not we go complaining to God.

Not that God can’t handle our complaints - I’m sure He’d rather hear those than nothing at all. But I wonder, how mightily would God reveal Himself to us if we would pursue Him through our praises even - especially - when life gets difficult? To see our brave, tear-stained faces looking up at Him (from the middle of the living room floor), wanting to know Him, and praising Him for who He is would delight Him in ways we can’t even imagine! I bet He would show up, and reveal Himself to us in ways that we could only experience on the floor with life strewn out all around us.

God inhabits the praises of His people. Just the very act of praising God when we’d rather be pouting and playing the martyr changes our attitude, our outlook on life, our countenance. When we praise God, life stops to listen, and it is one way that we can make a conscious choice to pursue God in all situations.

We cannot wait for life to be hunky-dory to pursue God, because, really, how often will we find ourselves in such a place? Yes, there are days when we naturally feel like praising Him, and rejoicing in all He is doing, but there are also days when it is a most difficult task to even lift our hands to Him, while washing His feet with our tears. Those are the sacrifices He desires of us. Those are the praises that stir Him deeply and delight Him. That is what pursuit is all about, and that is the pursuit that God loves to honor.

So, I will do my best to pursue Him, and delight in Him, even with life being so crazy. I know that as we each make the difficult decision to pursue Him in the midst of pain, God will meet us in that place, giving us the strength we need to go one more step. And I pray that He will pour out Himself to us in ways that make the pain worth it!