God’s Amazing Grace

Losing a loved one, going through a breakup, getting a scary diagnosis—it can be hard to worship God in this broken world. The good news is, you’re not the first one to wrestle with this: lots of people in the Bible went through very difficult, even deadly, situations and had to figure out what it looked like to worship God in the midst of them.

Job lost his family and friends. Then, the remaining people in his life gave him bad advice and were often unkind to him in what they said. However, Job clung to his faith in the Lord. He worshiped God in the midst of the suffering— crying out to God with the hurt he was feeling, praising God for who He is, and acknowledging God would one day redeem and restore all the brokenness in Job’s life (Job 1:13-22; 2:9-10; 7:2-21; 19:25-27).

In Acts 16, Paul and Silas were in prison for proclaiming the good news of Jesus. As they sat in a cell, they didn’t wait for God to deliver them from prison: they started singing to God right then and there.

Most comforting of all, Jesus—who is fully God and fully human—knows
what it is like to suffer too. On the day before He was put to death, He had one last meal with His disciples, giving thanks for the meal they were having, even though He knew what was ahead of Him (Luke 22:19-23). They even sang a hymn together (Matthew 26:30). Jesus also took time to pray about the immense hurt and stress of the situation (Luke 22:39-44).

Because Jesus has felt the hurt of this broken world, we can go to Him with anything we’re facing—with tears, with praise, and with thanksgiving (Hebrews 4:14-16). In Christ, we can still worship in the midst of heartache. When we don’t know what to say, we can rest in Jesus because His Spirit will help us pray—even in the darkest of hours (Romans 8:26-27). Suffering won’t last forever, but our Savior will be with us always (Revelation 21:1-5). • Alexis Wohler

• At what times in your life have you found it the most difficult to praise God?

• Read Romans 8. If your faith is in Christ, what promises can you cling to during hard times?

• How do these promises affect your worship? What does it look like to worship God through praise, thanksgiving, and lament?

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 (NIV)

Read Verses:

Ephesians 2:1-10