I Will Yet Praise Him!

I Will Yet Praise Him!
written by Chris Baker

Do you know the way you respond to a situation is a choice? You can choose to react or to respond. Reactions are generally emotional. For example, if someone says something that hurts your feelings, and you react with a mean response or action, that was purely emotional. However, if you were to pause and ask yourself why that person said what they said, you are now allowing yourself to respond rationally. Perhaps they are just having a bad day or just received some bad news. The point is, you cannot control what others say, or how they act, but you can control your response. 

Take a moment and read Psalm 43 by clicking here. Notice the Psalmist cannot control the situation that he is in. He is praying for vindication, to be cleared of whatever he is being accused. The Psalmist is planted within an ungodly nation, surrounded by deceitful and wicked people. He is overwhelmed and oppressed! 

Does life ever seem like that? Whether great or small, any unjust situation can be exhausting! You may find yourself under attack and slandered, which may seem undeserved and unfair.  It appears there is nothing you can do to change the circumstances of your situation, everything seems to be out of your control, or is there something that remains under your control? 

Do not allow yourself to remain in that place of discouragement for one second longer! Listen to the Psalmist words in verse 5, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (NIV). Do you see what he did there? My good friend Dana always draws attention to these verses. Do you know why? It is because the Psalmist has a choice to make. He can either remain in a downcast, rejected state, or, he can command the spirit within him to praise the Lord! Our attitude is a choice.

No matter what situation you are facing, no matter how unjust or unfair, you can command your soul to praise the Lord. You can choose to place your faith and trust in the Lord. You can choose to look to the one who, can not only change your current situation, but can change your heart and response to the current situation. Where will you place your hope? Where will you look to for help? Will you remain in internal misery or choose to hope in the Lord? 

Take your eyes off your current situation and place them on the eternal God! He holds your future. He is worthy of your praise. He is mightier than any circumstance. He is in control, so place your hope and trust in Him. Make verse 5 your prayer today, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (NIV).

Please click here, to learn more about beginning a relationship with Jesus. 

May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope, ¹⁷ encourage your hearts and strengthen you in every good deed and word.

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

1 Peter:13-5

To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

Colossians 1:27

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, ³⁹ neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:38-39