Shout to the Lord

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, burst into jubilant song with music.  Psalm 98: 4

One of my all time favourite worship songs is Shout to the Lord by Darlene Zschech. I watched a clip of her on YouTube explaining when and how she had written that song. She and her family were in a hard place, struggling at many levels especially financially. One morning a tax bill came which they just could not pay.   Darlene says that she told God, ‘I just can’t do this God.’

She didn't give up. Instead she went into the secret place and worshipped God and Shout to the Lord was written.  If you listen to the words of the song in the light of these circumstances, they are extraordinary but she was following in the footsteps of many other believers who have found that worship in the midst of difficult, difficult circumstances brings forth something beautiful.

King David and many others who wrote the Psalms knew about worshipping God, not just in the happy, good times but especially in the midst of great trial. The Psalms, which is where Darlene got her inspiration for Shout to the Lord, is where we too can find help in our times of trouble. The saints who have gone before have left us a rich heritage of encouragement to help us in our times of grief, despair, disappointment, hurt and pain.

As Darlene says she was between a rock and a hard place. Have you been there?  No place to turn except upwards into the arms of our Saviour. There we find all we need. There in that place of confinement true worship is born and beautiful things come forth.

We may not be song or even poetry writers but worship given as a true sacrifice is beautiful in God’s eyes and does something extraordinary in us. It liberates us from our place of difficulty into a place of freedom  even though our circumstances have not changed. As we focus on the one who can change everything, everything changes in us.

Trust is born, faith arises, hope stirs in our souls. Worship given during the good times is amazing. Worship out of the hard times is life changing.