“Praise the LORD. Praise the LORD, my soul.” Psalm 146:1
How often during our day do we stop our commotion and pause to praise the Lord? In moments of joy or moments of sadness. In times of success or in times of a seemingly insurmountable challenge. What is there that has taken place in our lives to bring us to look up to the Heavens and gaze in amazement at what He has caused or permitted to happen in our lives? Early, yesterday morning, armed gangsters broke into the Port-au-Prince home of Haiti’s president Moise and shot and killed him and wounded his wife. There have been many challenges facing Haiti in 2021; pandemic with sparse doses of vaccine, rampant gang activity, the early start of Hurricane season with Elsa and now this sad news. God is still in control…and on this side of eternity, we praise Him!
As satan turns up the thermostat on chaos and tries to draw hopeless people to seek help from the vodou priest, we believers look to our Triune God to seize this opportunity to bring Hope to this country during this summer of unrest. You, me and these three children who make up just a sliver of the more than 42,500 children that are being fed every day in a Christian school by Trinity Hope donors is a reason to say ‘Praise the Lord’ because our prayers are being heard, and we serve and worship an awesome, HUGE God.
One of the Hymns I heard on Alexa recently was ‘It is well with my soul’ that was written by Horatio Spafford in 1873 and seems so appropriate today.
“When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll; whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, it is well, it is well, with my soul. It is well, with my soul, it is well, it is well, with my soul. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, let this blest assurance control, that Christ has regarded my helpless estate, and hath shed His own blood for my soul. It is well, it is well, with my soul. My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! It is well, it is well, with my soul. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live: if Jordan above me shall roll, no pang shall be mine, for in death as in life Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul. It is well, it is well, with my soul. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait, the sky, not the grave, is our goal; Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord! Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul! It is well, it is well, with my soul. And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight, the clouds be rolled back as a scroll; the trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, even so, it is well with my soul. It is well, it is well, with my soul.”
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay