Will I Sing A Thousand More?

“From the beginning to our futures
You have and always have been
You will and always will be
The Faithful the Great Redeemer
The only One who’s able
To perfectly untangle

What was broken and what was hopeless
You have and always have been
You will and always will be My Mercy
Oh my Jesus
The only One who’s worthy of all praise

You can’t be praised enough
You can’t be praised enough
For every song I’ve sung before
I will sing a thousand more”

“You Can’t Be Praised Enough” Austin Stone Worship

I recently heard this song, and given the season that my family and I have been in, it touched to the core of my spirit in a season where we feel like we are in a boat stuck in the middle of a storm, weathering it out, until we make it back to shore.

However, this song has helped prompt a question within my devotional time which I have been repeatedly asking myself:

Do I really believe this? Do I really mean it?

The truth is that some people don’t believe that suffering and being a Christian are a part of the interwoven tapestry in which God has designed called life. Some may even profess their faith but then treat verses which speak of suffering as if they are written in a different language. You can probably even scour the internet to find soundbites of Pastors talking about how suffering isn’t biblical. In my non-seminary, blue collar opinion, that type of theological stance tips the seesaw towards heresy if not at the bare minimum a terrible interpretation of much of the N.T. The bottom line is that suffering isn’t something “optional” for the Christian; and if it is to you, I can boldly say your interpretation of Christianity is off-kilter.

We are taught at multiple times throughout scripture that we are meant to suffer as Christians; and this suffering is ultimately for our own good. It is not because God is up in heaven sitting on His throne longing to make our lives miserable. It is because he is in fact far more concerned for our sanctification and holiness than our comfort.

³ For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; ⁴ that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, ⁵ not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God; ⁶ that no one transgress and wrong his brother in this matter, because the Lord is an avenger in all these things, as we told you beforehand and solemnly warned you. ⁷ For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness. ⁸ Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you. 

1 Thessalonians 4:3–8 ESV

⁵ And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. ⁶  For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives.” ⁷ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline

Hebrews 12:5–7 ESV

¹² Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.

 Hebrews 12:12–13 ESV

So what is the encouragement then? Where is the warm and fuzzy feeling? Where do we get to the praise and how do we relate this to the question aforementioned at the beginning? Well, I suppose that maybe I should add a bit about why I’m debating if I would sing a thousand more praises? The truth is that the last 8 months of our life has felt like everything has just been turned upside down and then shaken like a blender bottle. Health issues, disappointment in transitions, etc. all of it just has built and built and thank the Lord, the health issues seem to be subsiding.

If you have ever been in a season like this or going through something similar, there eventually gets to a point at the apex of the crucible where you’re forced to your knees to submit to the Lord and the fact that His ways are far greater than our understanding. In this moment, our response becomes something very similar to that of Job’s, where after pleading his case and longing for God to answer him, God surely answers him and lovingly rebukes Job for speaking without understanding.

¹Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ²  “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge? ³  Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. ⁴  “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding. 

Job 38:1–4 ESV

I don’t know about you, but I’m not tickled at the thought that the creator and sustainer of the universe would tell me that I speak in words without knowledge, and then to dress for action like a man…yikes.

The truth is though, we need to hear that – at least I do. I’ve shaken my fist enough this year and I have resolved to sing not just a thousand more, but to lose track of how many thousands I’ve sung. The reason I can say this is because of suffering. It’s because of the fact that in my suffering I am made more aware of the glory of God and lack of glory in my own self. I am made more aware of how beautiful God is and how ugly I am without Him. It’s because of the fact that in the discipline in my life administered by a LOVING God, I am awakened to see the way that my father in heaven LOVES me, cares for me, and knows what is best for me.

Our Global Family Pastor, Sam Luce, just recently said in a message he was preaching that “every no from God is a blessing”. I’m sure I’ve written this before but we far too often find ourselves in the J.G. Wentworth commercials where we are yelling at God IT”S MY LIFE AND I WANT IT NOW. The mic drop moment in that comes from the fact that it’s a lie and it’s the same one that basically caused the fall of man in the garden. Eve said that and bit the apple and her husband wasn’t there to stop her.

I’m reminded of how this song ends:

STILL You can’t be praised enough. AKA, even though I’m hurting and I’ve been disappointed, YOU ARE UNCHANGING, You’re good, You’re loving, You’re kind, and even through this storm YOU ARE STILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL worthy, You truly cannot be praised enough. You are the ONLY one worthy of all praise. And the best part of this is right here:

We don’t sing just for what You have done, we sing for what we KNOW You WILL do.

I don’t mean that as in “my blessed life now”, I mean that one day You will come riding on a cloud and make all these things RIGHT again. You will restore all of this to a manner in which You originally designed and we will no longer feel nor face pain of any kind. We will live in a perpetual state of true pure and undefiled joy. It the most fulfilling moment of faith unfeigned.

Reader, are you in the middle of a storm? Do you feel like your boat is in the middle of raging seas and the lighthouse is covered by fog? I pray that this may comfort you to know that you’re not alone and that our God who desires you to be sanctified and mature loves you dearly and has not let go. His desires are to make us stronger and that our roots would go down deeper, not to harm us and cut us off. That is why as James writes that we are to count it joy when we face trials and troubles – because there is something that is happening within us and deepening with us. We are being forged in fire by the creator and sustainer of all things so that we are able to sing for all eternity the praise which is due to Him, and Him alone.

Soli Deo Gloria.

BMT