Woah. I am so grateful to my friend Natalie for sharing this song last week, because it has completely wrecked me. Take a look at these lyrics:
If the stars were made to worship so will I
If the mountains bow in reverence so will I
If the oceans roar Your greatness so will I
For if everything exists to lift You high so will I
If the wind goes where You send it so will I
If the rocks cry out in silence so will I
If the sum of all our praises still falls shy
Then we’ll sing again a hundred billion times
It’s beautiful, and it’s really challenged me. See, I believe there is a huge blessing in life’s trials. Namely, they give you more eternal outlook. They give you incredible thankfulness for what God is doing in the here and now. I know I am incredibly fortunate, but I also know I have lived a lot of my life in the wasteland of troubles. It’s become home.
But God has recently taken me into a new season. After years of backbreaking work, plowing and planting and ripping up weeds, I’m starting to see fruit. And it’s terrifying.
I’ve written about this feeling before, the feeling that says “when is the ground going to fall from underneath me again?” The feeling that catches you with baited breath, just waiting, waiting for the blow.
But I haven’t written my response to that stage in life. Partially, that’s because I haven’t ever been there for long. And partially: It’s because I’ve done a lot of writing and not a lot of doing when it comes to fearless surrender. I mean, I had a period of three months last year when everything seemed to cruising along. And I tried to enjoy it, but it was so difficult. So I wrote about how I wasn’t going to be afraid, and then I dipped my toe into doubt…
Fast forward a few months and I had a major stress crisis and felt better about myself. Finally: I was out of the waiting period.
But I’m back. And by God’s great grace, I’m seeing spiritual growth in and around me that is incredibly exciting. And my heart quickens once again, in anticipation, in doubt.
If the stars were made to worship so will I
If the mountains bow in reverence so will I
So will I. With all my fears and confusion: I too will praise Him. With my incredible joy: I too will praise Him. With my faith like a mustard seed: I too will praise Him. And as I declared that to myself, the Lord revealed to me that I hadn’t been doing a lot of that.
I have four classes, three jobs and a mountain of work. And somewhere in there: I am supposed to decide what I want to do with my life. I’m very much in a place of anticipation and pure anxiety. And yet, I’ve gotten so wrapped up in this agenda that I’ve somehow missed the beauty that all of creation is screaming out: He is worthy of praise.
Praise isn’t just suggested. It is commanded. We were made to praise. Our body needs it, craves it. And if we don’t praise Jesus: We find something else, something lesser, to praise.
So it’s time I look at what’s around me and offer up my praise. Because in this place of excitement and doubt and fear, God is present. In the wrestling of decisions and the rejoicing in convictions: He is here. All of creation knows it, and I do too. We do too.
There’s nothing too insightful about this blog post, nothing mind-blowing. But I think it’s an important message nonetheless: God deserves the praise. Let’s be a people that can turn our eyes from the chaos of the moment and praise Him for every itty bitty thing that we don’t deserve. There’s a lot- really, everything- that we don’t deserve.
And if life demands too much of you or worry tries to consume you: Sing His praises. If death is at your door or life is shining through: Praise Him. And “If the sum of all our praises still falls shy…sing again a hundred billion times.”
Love,
Hannah
A Grateful Life Lived 