Let Everything That Has Breath Praise the LORD
“Hallelujah! Praise God in His sanctuary.
Praise Him in His mighty heavens.
Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him for His excellent greatness.
Praise Him with the sound of the horn; praise Him with the harp and lyre.
Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.
Praise Him with clashing cymbals; praise Him with resounding cymbals.
Let everything that has breath praise the LORD!
Hallelujah!”
Is there ever a place where we cannot praise the Lord? No. Is there ever a time when we cannot praise the Lord? No. Do we have to be famous or handsome of talented to praise the Lord? No. Do we have to be musically talented to praise the Lord? No.
The truth is that praise has very little to do with our ability and everything to do with our availability. The creation already praises the Lord; it’s only people who are dragging their feet and making excuses why they can’t praise God.
Are there any circumstances in which we cannot praise God? No. In fact, the more dire the circumstances, the more we need to praise the Lord. Can we stop praising the Lord if everything is going well? No. If we are blessed with good health and good fortune, we should praise God for our blessings. If we are struggling, we can praise God that He is capable of bringing perfect solutions to our problems.
APPLICATION: What if we are fine but our kids are caught up in drugs or alcohol? We can praise God for giving us those children and pray that He will deliver them from their addictions. The late Barbara Johnson and her husband Bill had a horrible series of incidents; yet, they used their experiences to praise God and to help others. First, Bill was nearly killed in an accident and suffered for years from a brain injury from which he miraculously recovered. Then the Johnsons lost their oldest son in Vietnam and the next oldest in a traffic accident. When their third son disappeared into the gay lifestyle, Barbara nearly committed suicide, but chose to give the situation to God.
Barbara began writing about their experiences. Her first book was entitled Where Does a Mother Go to Resign? She followed up that book with a number of others, including Splashes of Joy in the Cesspools of Life, Stick a Geranium in Your Hat and Be Happy, Fresh Elastic for Stretched out Moms, When Your Children Break Your Heart, and many more. Barbara also collected things that gave her joy and the Johnsons had an entire room in their home dedicated to things Barbara had collected and that others sent to her. The Johnsons started a ministry called Spatula Ministries after realizing how many parents were out there silently hurting. (They joked that when parents got bad news about their kids, it took a spatula to scrape them off the ceiling.) Barbara even made fun of her diabetes. Bill and Barbara Johnson turned their tragedies into triumphs by using the compassion God gave them to help others. And throughout their lives, the Johnsons continued to praise God.
Although the Johnsons have gone to be with Jesus, Barbara’s books are still in print and are still helping lift people’s spirits. But spoiler alert: Barbara had a goofy sense of humor and loved puns and all kinds of corny cartoons. Her books are full of that stuff, but when you’re down, something will catch your attention and you’ll find yourself laughing.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us may feel that someone needs to take a spatula to scrape us off the ceiling. Many more of us may feel that we are in those cesspools and really need some splashes of joy. Thank You for sending people like the Johnsons who can show us ways that we can still praise You even when things seem rotten. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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