It is not hard to praise God when good things are occurring in our individual lives, our nation, and the world at large. But can God’s people muster enough faith and courage to praise God as the darkness in our world deepens? Someone asked this question following the 2008 General Election, “Is there anything left to praise God for?” Never have Americans elevated to their highest office a President who not only is pro-choice, but pro-abortion, even endorsing “partial birth abortion” and supporting practices that will further hurt marriages, destroy children, and weaken the family, such as homo-sexual marriages – all of which are condemned in the Holy Scriptures. All these things – plus the economic tsunami, the threat of Islamic Jihadism, the danger of nuclear warfare, the growing confrontation between Russia and the West, the unprecedented persecution and martyrdom of Christians across the planet, the raging hostility and hatred against Christianity in America, – seems, humanly speaking, to leave little or nothing for which to praise God. Can we still be faithful to pray, to internalize God’s Word, to have a meaningful time with God daily, to win the lost, to attend church regularly, to pay our weekly tithes, to rear our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, to stay in the battle no matter the cost. In a word can we avoid “Headline Hysteria” when every headline screams forth the deepening darkness? Yes, indeed, rather than being overcome with “Headline Hysteria,” we can say, to quote the late Adrian Rogers, “It’s growing gloriously dark.”
Does the Bible command God’s people to keep on praising God though the darkness deepens? Indeed, it does. God’s people are repeatedly commanded to “Rejoice in the Lord always.” (Phil. 4:4; 1 Thess. 5:16). Specifically we are told that the early Christians “rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name (Acts 5:41). Jesus commanded His followers, when persecuted, “to rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven” (Matthew 5:12; Luke 10:20).
Illustration: With my own eyes I witnessed God’s people in Baroda, India,, rejoicing after having been severely assaulted by 100 heavily armed Hindus, resulting in injury to 42 pastors, seven of whom were rushed to the hospital. Two days later I met with those who had been so savagely persecuted, including the pastor’s wife who was jailed. In that service the seven pastors, who were severely injured, were able to be brought to the tent where we were meeting. Each one of them came down in wheel chairs, with the aid of others, and testified of their indescribable love, even for their persecutors, and their resolve to keep praising the Lord and winning the lost.
The Apostle Peter wrote his first epistle in perhaps the darkest hour ever for Christianity. The notorious Nero, the great murderer of Christians, the man who ordered the beheading of Paul, sat upon the throne of the Roman Empire. Suicides were at an all time high on the part of Christians, and Peter no doubt despaired for his own life. Yet Peter opened his first epistle, not with a whimper or a complaint, but with a rousing doxology of praise to His heavenly Father. Listen to his words, Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has given us a new birth into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.” (1 Peter 1:3-5)
For what is Peter praising His Father? He is praising Him for two priceless blessings which every Christian has and which are more precious to all Christians in times of trouble than any other time:
- He is praising God for the Experience of the New Birth in this life. He shouts out, “Praise to the Father who has given me a new birth into a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus from the dead.” (1:3) Have you been born again? Then you have been given the greatest gift in time and eternity; for not only do you know your sins are forgiven, but you know you have eternal life abiding in you – life that can never die, never be taken away, not even by death – the very life of God Himself – a life filled with love, joy, peace and purpose.
- He is also praising his Father for the Expectation of Heaven in the life to come. He shouts out, “Praise to the Father who has given us a new birth…unto an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for us who are kept by the power of God through faith ready to be revealed in the last time” (1:4-5) Do you know you are going to heaven? Then you have been given the greatest assurance, the most glorious promise possible for all eternity. And the text says that not only is heaven reserved for us and no one can steal it, but we ourselves will be kept, not by our own power, but by the power of God to claim the promise. So it does not matter how tough the journey, or how long it takes, we know we will end up home, absolutely, one day.
Anything left to praise God for? Absolutely. Any person who has experienced the new birth and has the expectation of heaven to come is able to praise God, no matter what may happen in his life or his world. Amen. Spurgeon put it like this: “When you know you’re headed home, you can smile and rejoice, no matter the hardships along the way.”
However, while we are praising God we may at the same time be undergoing some suffering and trials appointed by God Himself. So having praised the Father for the Experience of the New Birth and the Expectation of Heaven, the Apostle Peter goes on to say, “For this (the new birth and heaven) we greatly rejoice, though now for a little while, if need be, you all are in heaviness through manifold testings.” (1:6) Notice these words, “if need be.” These words mean that there are times that God’s people need to go through serious testing, to prove the genuiness of their faith, that God knows the testings we need, and He puts us through them that we might be “conformed to the image of Christ,” (Romans 8:28) and without which we would never grow into Christ’s likeness. What do we learn from testing?
- Many learn obedience. Jesus, though God’s Son, learned obedience through the things He suffered – Hebrew 5:8. David confessed that he went astray until he suffered – (Psalm 119:67) and even confessed in Psalm 119:71 that it was good that he suffered so he would learn God’s Word.
- Some learn patience and perseverance like Job (James 5:11).
- Others learn to love and to search the Scriptures and to really pray (Psalm 119:71).
- Others lose their pride as Paul – 2 Cor. 12:9ff.
- W. Tozer said, “God first hurts a man before He uses him.”
Are you experiencing some trials or great difficulties in your life – in your marriage, on your job, with your children, in paying your bills, your health? Are you discouraged over the outcome of the election? Of course, all of us are experiencing some kind of trouble, for there are only three classes of people:
- Those in trouble
- Those just out of trouble
- and those about to get in trouble
Still, if you are truly a child of God, you ought to praise the Lord for:
- Experience of the New Birth
- Expectation of Heaven
And you can even thank God for your troubles, for He has sent them or permitted them because you need them in order to become what God redeemed you to be. Then you can say with Job, “But God knows the steps I take; when He has tested me I shall come forth like gold (Job 23:10). And take comfort in the fact that God will limit your troubles. If you will cooperate with him, your trials will not be long. If you rebel, He may keep you in the furnace for a long time. “ But may] the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you” (1 Peter 5:10).
“When God permits His children to go through the furnace, He keeps His eye on the clock and His hand on the thermostat. If we rebel He may have to reset the clock; but if we submit He will not permit us to suffer one minute too long. The important thing is that we learn the lesson He wants to teach us and that we bring glory to Him alone.”[1]
David, the man after God’s own heart, expressed the attitude every child of God should have in dark and difficult days. He wrote, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for YOU are with me…Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord (the home of God) forever.” (Psalm 23:4,6).
In closing, let me illustrate all I have been saying. When HA Ironside was pastor of the Moody Memorial Church in Chicago, one of his members, a frightened little lady, came to him saying, “Pastor, wherever I go two men follow me. When I get on the streetcar, open the door of my apartment, etc. these two men follow.” Brother Ironside replied, “Why haven’t you called the police?” To which she replied, “I have and they won’t do anything.” By this time the pastor saw that the lady was mentally unbalanced and said to her, “Dear, don’t you realize these are “Goodness and Mercy.” She replied, “You mean to tell me that those two guys are ‘Goodness and Mercy?’” He said, “Have you not read in Psalm 23 these words, “Surely Goodness and Mercy shall follow me all the days of my life?” The dear lady began to shout and praise the Lord, saying, “If these two me who are following me, I will never fear any thing again but spend the rest of my life just praising the Lord.” Amen and Amen.
[1] Warren Wiersbe, Bible Exposition Commentary, NT, vol. 2, p. 393.