The song “Hard Fought Hallelujah” was playing on the radio, and it occurred to me that even in hard times, we cannot allow our circumstances to inform our opinion of God’s character. That can only come through scripture. And in the hard times, we can still praise Him because He is always worthy of praise. Hallelujah, in general, means to praise God (Yahweh).
My circumstances occur outside of defining Him. None of them can inform me of who He is based
on what I am going through. Like when I
went through my heart attack, and I was finally able to go back to church. I
was missing fellowshipping with other believers, but I was really missing
praising Him with my Christian family. Boy, it took a lot for me to do it early
on. Just standing to praise Him was very difficult at first. At times, I was so weak, but praising Him was
the greatest honor, and it reinforced what I already knew to be true about His
character and what I had already discovered in His Word.
My heart attack was my circumstance, but that circumstance
could not inform me of God’s character. So, if I am tempted to think of God in
a way that is different from what I find of His character in scripture, I need
to adjust. My circumstances do not have that sort of weight in defining His character.
His character is what His character is. He is good, faithful, loving, kind, long-suffering,
and wrathful toward sin and evil done against us. I cannot allow my
circumstances to inform me about God’s character because that is not where His
character is revealed; it is in the bible. It is in what He has shown us in the
written word.
I also cannot allow my feelings to inform me about God. My feelings
don’t inform me of anything other than showing me how I am responding to the
circumstances in my life. Sometimes they are not even based in reality. They
are just my feelings. They are neither good nor bad; they just are!
So, when we find ourselves tempted to disparage God’s
character because of the difficulties in our lives, we need to see if it lines
up with what we find to be true about Him in His Word.
We do have a hard-fought, yet heartfelt Hallelujah that we bring to exalt the God of the Universe. Remember, we live in a fallen world where there is an abundance of heartaches. But there is a God who loves us and longs to connect with us. My prayer for you today, as you read this, is that you sense His goodness regardless of your feelings and circumstances. Also, praying a biblical blessing over you as well from Numbers 6:24-26
The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace
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