Praise At Odd Times

In college I became a voracious note-taker. I've seen college classrooms today with students furiously clicking away on their laptops during the professor's lecture. But that's not how it was "in my day." In my day, I feverishly wrote, trying to capture what was written on the board before the next board was pulled down in front of the previous one and subsequently filled up as well. (Whew! It makes me tired just thinking about it!) It's a skill that has served me well, even into my adult years. It's almost how I listen now. In church, at seminars, and sometimes even as I listen to podcasts, there I am... scribbling in my notebook.

One tactic I learned to employ in some of my science or French classes in college, when the lecture was sometimes given by an international student or teaching assistant from another country, was to write what I thought they said and just make sense of it later. Many times, due to the difference in his or her accent, I would write one thing, and then later figure out it meant something completely different! (Sort of like making a game of Mad Gab out of my study notes!) A few months ago at a women's conference, I found myself copiously taking notes using this particular method as a precious woman from Zambia was speaking quite fast and with a heavy accent. What I heard her repeat several times was, "I will praise Him at odd times." As she repeated it, my brain heard it that way again. So, I wrote it. Just like that. I will praise Him at odd times. I thought to myself, "I suppose it is good to praise God at odd times," wondering where she was going with her point. I later figured out that what she said was, "I will praise Him at ALL times," which makes total sense!

But so did what I thought she said.

You see, if we praise Him at all times, then inevitably we are going to praise Him at some odd times, too. There are certain moments that just don't seem to call for praise: Being stuck in traffic. Sitting with a sick child. Being bedridden. Receiving devastating news. In the midst of financial uncertainty. Facing a giant disappointment. Letting go of a dream.

But, those are precisely the moments when we most need to praise God. Praise ushers us into "His courts" where we can lay all of it at His feet, and helps to put our circumstance into the proper perspective. It doesn't mean that we are to act like we've got the "holy jollies" in the midst of our grief and pain, but we can honestly praise Him through it. In one of my favorite resources, 31 Days of Praise, Ruth Myers says of David and the other psalmists:

"They did not deny their feelings or simply ignore them. Nor did they wallow in them until they'd all but drowned. And it doesn't seem that they postponed their praise until they had worked through their emotions and felt better. Instead, they mingled an honest pouring-out of their feelings with sincere, God-honoring praise."

Myers also says:

"I find that sooner or later (often sooner) the Lord releases me from being a slave to my distressing emotions. He unties the tight knots within me and settles my feelings, though He may not answer my questions about how He's handling my affairs. And when at times praise does not quickly bring inner feedom and joy, I can say, 'Lord, I can't praise You in the same way I did last week (or last year). I can't seem to respond to You with the same sense of delight and celebration. But I do choose to lift You high, praising You for what You are and what You mean to me.' "

Since the day I wrote that mis-heard sentence in my notebook (I didn't change it!) I have thought about, and even looked for, odd times to praise Him. When I have, I have seen a difference in how I cope in those moments, and my relationship with Him has grown so much deeper. I praised God two summers ago while I held my sick child in a foreign country. I praised Him during a health issue I recently experienced. I praised Him yesterday when I was grieving the news of the death of a dear friend. I don't always do this, and I do revert to "panic mode" way more often than I should, but by His grace and through His precious Holy Spirit, He's teaching me.

Have you praised Him at some odd times? Would you share it with us in the comments? God is good, all the time. May we praise Him at all times. Even the odd ones.

I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

Psalm 34:1