Transformative Power of Praise in Every Circumstance

Now this is the last of all the psalms and it tells us about praise where should god be praised everywhere praise him in his sanctuary praise him in his mighty heavens that's the price of inside the church you might say and outside the church does everything so where should be praised everywhere why should we praise him for everything it says in verse 2 praise him for his acts of power praise him for his surpassing greatness law don't just praise him for what he's done praise him for who he is. [00:58:17]

If you read through the Psalms there's grief there's anger problem one third of the Psalms are lamentations at least one third of the songs are just filled with agony and unhappiness and yet at the very end the last five Psalms are praise Psalms and this last one is the ultimate prey psalmist and here's what this is what the Salter is saying this is what the Bible is saying all prayer in the end ends in praise. [02:03:35]

You confess your sins it ends eventually in spite of the sorrow of that it ends in the joy of forgiveness you lament and you cry out to God it will end in the joy of resting more in him and of course praise itself the Bible says the more we see him as he is the more we become like him. [02:31:12]

Eugene Peterson's great book on answering God it's a book on the Psalms he says this about Psalm 150 and I'll just end with this long quote Petersons writes quote Psalm 150 does not stand alone for more hallelujah Psalms are inserted in front of it so that it becomes the fifth of five Psalms that conclude the Psalter these five hallelujah psalms are extraordinarily robust this means no matter how much we suffer no matter how much our doubts no matter how angry we get no matter how many times we have asked in desperation how long O Lord prayer always develops finally into praise. [03:26:27]

Everything finds its way to the doorstep of phrase this is not to say that other prayers are inferior to praise only that all prayer pursued far enough becomes praised don't rush it it take years decades even before certain prayers arrived at the hallelujahs at Psalm 146 to 150 not every prayer is capped off with praise in fact most prayers of the Psalter is a true guide do not cap off with praise but prayer is always reaching toward praise and will finally arrive there. [04:15:07]

One of the things that caught my attention was in that long quote you read from Eugene Peterson where it says it may take years decades even before certain prayers arrived at hallelujahs and I wonder have you ever done this I'm not even sure who told me about doing it but one of the ways that you can keep track of those so that you don't lose the praise because if years go by between praying a prayer and getting to the heli you could forget you even prayed it is to keep a prayer journal. [05:00:22]

Where you write down the prayer and the date you prayed it and then you have another column which might be empty for a really long time where you record the date and the answer that God finally gave and if you look at that maybe once a year and fill it in and then I've got things that it did take decades before I saw the answer when we were praying for our sons and their marriages back with you were in elementary school but that's one of the ways that you can you can keep track of the things that God has answered you so that you don't lose the praise over the long span of time that it might take. [05:34:34]

I as you know I do write everything down in my journals but I have never I write down what I'm praying for one of the reasons I don't necessarily feel like I need to write down have that second column is because when I look back on the old journals I would say now because we're as old as we are probably 80% of them I either look I can say hallelujah because it actually did happen it's exactly but in many many other cases I say hallelujah because it doesn't seem as important as it used to the thing I wanted was actually probably all not all that wise or necessary at the time I thought it was absolutely necessary hallelujah to his wisdom that he's wiser than than I am that he didn't give it. [06:12:89]

Sometimes how will you give it sometimes hallelu you're wise enough to give it and then in many many cases hallelujah because even though you never gave it to me I can see good things that happen in my life because of it if God had answered all my prayers I'd be married to two different men and either one would be you for instance and I but I actually fell away that he didn't answer those well he did he answered no and that was a good thing I would say there's probably still 20% over the prayers even at our advanced age that they haven't ended in hallowee-- and they may not end Analia till we get to heaven I think that's important to remember too but it is important one way or the other to keep track of those things so that you can see God's wisdom and praise him for it because okay you can lose track life has a lot of parts. [07:07:99]