It’s easy to praise God when times are good and when things are going the way that we want them to go, right? We lift up holy hands and we praise the God of heaven and earth for His goodness and His bountiful blessings. Then, the unthinkable happens. We are facing a threat in the corona virus that is causing worldwide panic and great stress upon our world right at this very moment as I am typing this. At times like these, it can be easy for us to harden our hearts and to shake a fist at God. We might question or wonder: How can He allow this? Is He still on His throne? The good news is He is still on His throne and He does have a plan and purpose for everything. Consider Isaiah 55:8-9 where God says: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the Lord, As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.” The challenge and question before you and I is this: As we see businesses closing around us and the whole world “shutting down” for a season so to speak; Will we still choose to praise Him? Even if that means you and I can’t go do the fun things we enjoy doing like going to movies or sporting events? For example, today the internet was not working at my house for hours on end, but eventually it came back on. God is faithful. I had a choice and that was to either be ungrateful and bitter to God that the internet was not working or to give thanks and count my blessings that it could always be worse and to see the positives. A man by the name of Habakkuk understood what it was like to see the world around him in utter turmoil, and yet, He still chose to praise God.

At first, he was complaining to God, but in the end he chose to praise the God of heaven and earth for who He is and all that He has done. Consider his response in Habakkuk 3:17-19:

“Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior.”

Or it also might look like this…. “Though the internet is not working, though this virus is very contagious and is powerful, though I am not able to go to work today, and the list goes on with things that we wish were different but they are not, even in the midst of these things, will we still choose to praise Him? As you begin your day this morning, I don’t know what you might be facing or going through, but I can tell you this, the God of heaven and earth loves you and cares about you and has plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Sometimes from where we are standing, it’s so hard to see where this is going and we wish we knew how all our fears and questions are going to play out in a world that we cannot control. However, in spite of that, we can still choose to bless the Lord and praise Him as Habakkuk did. Praise Him always! I hope you have a blessed day. I love you and I am praying for you! #morningswithmitch #IwillchoosetopraiseHim