Sometimes we wonder where God is and how to get His attention. We wonder why we are sad or depressed or discouraged. People who know we are Christians wonder why we are upset and why our faith doesn’t seem to affect our lives. David felt the same way!
My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while men say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.
Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you…
Psalm 42
David had plenty of opportunity for depression and discouragement. He knew a secret, however. He knew that no matter the circumstances, the secret was praising God. When we praise Him, it connects us to Him in a way that allows His power to flow into us. It will change our whole day! Our Father knows that when we focus on our troubles, that is all we can see. Our attitude and the direction of our life will be dictated by that focus. He made us. He knows how we tick! He knows that if we turn our attention to Him, if we put our energy into praising Him, it will lift us up in a way that nothing else can. We become billboards for Him when we have peace and joy in our lives that is baffling to those around us.
Father, I praise you for being a living God that wants a daily connection with me! I trust you to keep it a two way connection that will allow others to see joy in me. I want others to see that being a Christian makes a daily difference in my life! Amen.