PRAISE IS WHAT TURNS A DIFFICULT SEASON AROUND. WHILE YOU’RE WAITING FOR THINGS TO CHANGE

GOSPEL CORNER

01/11/24

JOEL OSTEEN MINISTRIES
TODAY’S WORD

Today’s Scripture
By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung up our harps.
Psalm 137:1–2, NIV

Don’t Hang Up Your Harp. After the people of Judah were conquered and taken into captivity by the Babylonians, they were so discouraged. They used to be joyful and sing about the greatness of Jehovah, but now they just sat and wept over what they lost. They didn’t just lose their freedom; they lost their praise and hung up their harps. When their captors asked them to sing the joyous songs of Israel, they refused. Their attitude was: “After God delivers us, we’ll get our joy back and sing again.”

No, praise is what turns a difficult season around. While you’re waiting for things to change, believing for breakthroughs, the enemy would love for you to get discouraged, to sit around complaining about your problems and hang up your harp. That’s when you need to give God praise more than ever. Praise activates His power. Praise causes angels to go to work. Praise opens prison doors. Praise breaks chains. Praise defeats giants. Don’t hang up your harp. You can praise your way out. Keep the praises going up and you’ll be amazed at what God will do.

A PRAYER FOR TODAY
“Father, thank You that You are my God and that’s reason enough to never waver in believing Your promises. Thank You that I can sing with joy in whatever season I am in. I am going to keep believing, keep praising, and keep thanking You for what’s on the way. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.”

When I visited the Mount of Beatitudes in Israel some time ago, the Lord opened my eyes to see for the first time how He had met the man with leprosy in Matthew 8:1–4. After preaching to the multitudes, our Lord didn’t go down the mountain toward them. Our Lord had actually walked down the mountain in another direction, very likely in the direction toward Capernaum (Matt. 8:5).

As I took a path down the mountain toward Capernaum that day, I saw slabs of stone strewn along the foot of the mountain. These stone slabs are just the right size for a man to crawl under and find shelter. Right then and there, I had the revelation of how the man with leprosy could have hidden under one of these slabs for fear of being discovered by the people, and how our Lord Jesus had known the man was hiding there and deliberately gone to seek him before the crowds caught up with Him.

In Jesus’ day, those with leprosy were ostracized and isolated in accordance with the law of Moses. Because they were conscious of how unclean they were and what the law required of them, their natural response was to withdraw and hide.

But hiding didn’t get the man with leprosy in Matthew 8 the healing and restoration he needed. Fortunately, hearing about the goodness of God—how God wanted to be a loving Father to him and take care of all his needs—got him out of hiding and into seeking the Lord for his miracle.

It changed his mind from seeing a God Who ostracized and condemned unclean people to seeing a God Who loved them no matter what their condition. This change of mind lit his faith and put courage in his heart to seek and receive the healing he so desperately wanted.

Like the man with leprosy at the start of his story, could you also be hiding from God today? Maybe you’ve been struggling with an addiction or cycle of defeat that you can’t seem to get out of. Maybe you’ve been a victim of sexual abuse and you blame yourself for it. Maybe you’ve had a failed marriage or business, or made a bad decision that has led to loss. And maybe your failure has caused you to avoid God, avoid going to church, and avoid people in general.

Beloved, whatever may be causing you to feel “unclean” or disqualified today, God wants you to change your mind about Him and, instead of hiding from Him, to run to Him!