“But, you promised!”
Every parent I know has heard this phrase from one of their children. No fury is equal to a child who believes they have missed out on something that was promised to them. Recently, I heard one of my kids use this phrase with me. They were frustrated something hadn’t happened yet and they felt like I had broken my promise. I reminded them I promised we would do that outing sometime this summer and school hadn’t even been out for a week yet. “Cool your jets, buddy!”
While we navigate this kind of disappointment with our kids, we also navigate it personally in our relationship with God. How often has life taken a turn for the worse and we felt abandoned, betrayed, or cynical about God carrying through on His promise to us?
Often, our frustration comes from expecting something which God didn’t ever promise. We also get worked up when we feel like our faithfulness to spiritual activities like prayer, Bible-reading, church-attendance, loving our neighbor, or tithing should have immunized us from adversity and pain. But God didn’t promise that.
Benjamin William Hastings speaks about this in a video he did in partnership with Worship Together. “Nowhere does God promise that life's going to be easy. In fact, If you’ve ever read the Bible at all, then you'd know that's just not the case. But what he does promise is strength for the journey and that he will always be there with us. As humans one of the best ways that we can remind ourselves of that - in the middle of those situations - is to praise. It puts things back into perspective.”
Hastings made that video in promotion of his single, "That’s the Thing About Praise." The song is a raw and honest exploration of disappointment, discouragement, and struggle with life and God.
WATCH NOW: Benjamin William Hastings, Blessing Offor - That's The Thing About Praise
RELATED CONTENT: Benjamin William Hastings & Blessing Offor Endure Using a Hallelujah in "That’s The Thing About Praise”
“There’s what I want
And then there’s where I’m at
Every one step forward, it got me five steps back.”
So much of our lives are spent in that space between what we want and where we’re at today. Hastings wanted to lean into that space and into honesty about his own journey when he made this album. In an interview with Air1, he confessed, “It's almost like the whole album is almost oversharing because I was like, this is how I'm feeling. If I can just be entirely transparent about it, maybe it's going to help someone else.”
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If you’ve ever read the Psalms, then you’ve been helped by the transparent sharing of another. Many of the songs are King David’s laments. His transparent sharing has lifted our spirits and helped us to praise God in our storms.
For instance, consider his words in Psalm 26:
“Don’t let me suffer the fate of sinners. Don’t condemn me along with murderers. Their hands are dirty with evil schemes, and they constantly take bribes. But I am not like that; I live with integrity. So redeem me and show me mercy.”
David was struggling when he wrote Psalm 6.
“I am worn out from sobbing. All night I flood my bed with weeping, drenching it with my tears. My vision is blurred by grief; my eyes are worn out because of all my enemies.”
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If you grew up in an environment (family or church) where you were discouraged from being honest with God, let’s correct that false teaching and set you straight. God wants us to bring our authentic selves into relationship with Him.
But, it’s not enough to just be authentic. That’s not the ultimate goal. We have an opportunity to transcend our circumstances, to transform our struggles, and to turn our eyes to the One who is greater than them.
This is what Hastings does so beautifully in the song. Singing along with Blessing Offor (a blind singer-songwriter who lost his vision completely as the result of an accident when he was 10 years old), Hastings reminds us of the power of praise.
“It don’t always fix your problems
But it’ll tell you how small they are…
I might see walls start falling
Or it might just change my heart.”
Singing “Hallelujah” can be hard, brutally hard at times. There’s no guarantee it will fix what’s broken or undo what’s been lost. Those are not promises Hasting, nor the God he sings about makes to us. But for centuries, singing “Hallelujah” has sustained followers of Jesus through life’s most perilous storms.
If you need a song for the difficulties you’re facing today, turn on “That’s the Thing About Praise.” Let the lyrics remind you of how God is working in you and around you in the middle of your troubles. Be honest and sing hallelujah!
Scott Savage is a pastor and a writer with the best last name in the world. Scott’s writing helps you laugh, challenges you to think, and invites you to grow. He leads Cornerstone Church in Prescott, Arizona. Scott is married to Dani and they are the parents of three growing savages. You can read more of Scott’s writing at scottsavagelive.com.
