ANCHOR
TEXT
TENSION
REFLECT
PRAYER
ANCHOR
You've probably assumed praise has to wait until after the danger passes, that gratitude only makes sense once you're safely on the other side of whatever you're anxious about.
SCRIPTURE TEXT
"Have mercy on me, my God, have mercy on me, for in you I take refuge. I will take refuge in the shadow of your wings until the disaster has passed... For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens; let your glory be over all the earth." — Psalm 57:1, 10-11 (NIV)
TENSION
David wrote this while literally hiding in a cave from someone trying to kill him, mid-danger, not after. He opens by asking for mercy and naming the disaster as still ongoing, until the disaster has passed, future tense, unresolved. And yet by the end of the same psalm, he's declaring God's love reaching to the heavens and asking God to be exalted over the whole earth. The praise doesn't wait for the cave to empty out. It happens inside it, alongside the plea for refuge, not replacing the fear but somehow coexisting with it.
REFLECT
What would it look like for you to actually praise God today, in the middle of whatever cave you're currently hiding in, rather than waiting until it's over?
PRAYER
I've been waiting to praise You until this actually resolves, like gratitude has to wait its turn behind relief. But You are great, Your love reaches to the heavens right now, whether or not my disaster has passed yet. Let me take refuge in You today, and let praise rise up even from inside the cave. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from The Holy Bible, New International Version® (NIV®). Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1980, 1983, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.