A Symphony of Praise

There once was an old man who loved listening to the symphony. He would sit in his favorite chair at home and listen to some old records of Mozart,Beethoven and Bach. This made him very happy; it gave him great pleasure.

One day he found out he won a contest, and his prize? A front row seat at Carnegie Hall to see the New York Philharmonic Symphony. When he arrived for the big show the Hall was packed with an anxious audience. Feeling a bit overwhelmed of entering a facility like this for the first time, the old man asked an usher if he would escort him to his seat. The old man walked down the aisle, proud and still in unbelief that he would be sitting in the front row of Carnegie Hall.

While the orchestra fined tuned their instruments, the old man marveled at what he was about to partake in. As he moved around in his seat to get into a comfortable position, he noticed his pocket wasn't jingling as it usually does. In other words, his keys were not where they were supposed to be. As he checked both pockets and no keys to be found, he suddenly realized..he locked his keys in his car. A sudden bewilderment came over him. His mind was now preoccupied throughout the concert with the dilemma facing him.

A front row seat at Carnegie Hall,the dream of a lifetime, and the old man couldn't enjoy it because his keys were locked in his car. How many times has something like this happened to you? An opportunity of a lifetime happens and you can't enjoy it because of some unforeseen circumstance, and so your mind becomes distracted.

I heard this illustration a few years ago and the message it was referring to was similiar to this:

Sometimes things happen in life that will throw us for a loop. And one of the hardest things for Christians to do within our struggles is to worship and praise God.We have an all access pass to the feet of Jesus whenever we want. A front row seat at any given moment, yet something will come along and distract us from enjoying that front row visitation with God the Almighty. The only real answer to our struggles is easy: allow God's glory into your suffering.

Do you remember the story of how Paul and Silas had been beaten and thrown into prison? And then when they began to pray and sing hymns of praise to the Lord a violent earthquake shook and the prison doors were opened. That's what praise does within our struggles. It releases our mind from our struggles as we seek the Lord for His divine touch of grace and mercy. Our singing praises within our circumstances is telling God: we trust Him, know that He is greater than any problem we have, and that He will come through for us.

If we can learn to practice praising God daily in the good times, and really root and ground ourselves in that concept,then praise should automaticly render with us when a situation should arise.

Praise also has another purpose and affect which I will deal with next week.
But remember:

Allow God's glory into your suffering and you will be amazed at the results.