What He Wants

"Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you." Isaiah 46:4

Yesterday as I was driving around running some errands, I had a rare opportunity to listen to the local Christian radio station. The song "Praise You In This Storm" by Casting Crowns came on, and as I listened to the song an overwhelming thought came to me.

"And I'll praise you in this storm
and I will lift my hands
for You are who You are
no matter where I am
and every tear I've cried
You hold in your hand
You never left my side
and though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm"

No matter where we are, no matter what we are going through, and no matter how terrible and awful life may be for us, God wants us to praise Him. Even when we are going through the absolute darkest days of our life, God wants us to love Him unconditionally, and He wants us to praise Him. When we feel beaten and broken, God wants us to still raise our hands towards heaven and shower him with love and praise. So often when we are in a struggle, we are questioning God, asking Him why this had to happen, and we focus on ourselves and how awful we feel and how awful others around us may feel. But God wants us to take the focus off of ourselves and focus on Him. We need to stop questioning and simply praise Him and love Him, unconditionally. Because when we can do that, when we can turn our eyes to heaven in our darkest hour, we have truly given God our all, and that is what He wants.

God wants our every fiber of our being. He wants our love in every moment of every day, he wants to know that we will drop anything and everything for Him, should he ask it of us, and it's in those moments of desperation that we sometimes realize how much we truly need our God. We do need Him, and He will be with us until the end of time, He will sustain us, provide for us, and rescue us from the pit of despair. Don't you think He deserves our praise and love? Don't you think He deserves our complete adoration and submission? Job was a man who lost absolutely everything, and still professed his love for God. Job was at the bottom of the barrel with nothing else to lose except his own life, yet he still praised and adored his God. And what happened at the very end of the story of Job? God restored everything and then some. Job was blessed even more so than he was before, because he still praised God during his storm. God carried Job to the end of His days.

"The LORD blessed the latter part of Job's life more than the first." Job 42:12

"After this, Job lived a hundred and forty years; he saw his children and their children to the fourth generation. 17 And so he died, old and full of years." Job 42:16,17

When we are suffering, when we are truly in a time of despair and grief, will we still praise our God? Will we still love our God- no matter what? God loves each and every one of us, and he wants that love in return. Can we give it to him? I know I certainly intend to try.