Singing Praise in Hard Change

One minute, things are fine. The next minute something suddenly changes. A hassle, a broken, a phone call, a mess, a tragedy. Suddenly, life changes and things are not fine.

But are they good? 

Somehow? 

It’s ALL good

If God is Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all (Eph. 4:6 ESV) and He is inherently good and His mercy is everlasting (Ps. 100:5), is the hard change a good thing?

His unchanging, mercy-mingled goodness permeates His Word. He enfolds us with care. Beloved in Christ, the Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works [the entirety of things created] (Ps. 145:9 AMPC). 

We love Psalm 23, don’t we? But is it true in the sudden and unwanted changes? Surely or only goodness, mercy, and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life, and through the length of my days the house of the Lord [and His presence] shall be my dwelling place (Ps. 23:6 AMPC).

We know deep down that He is always good, in all of life’s hard changes. And He indwells us, holds us in it all.

Our good and merciful Lord is holding it all

If Jesus is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col. 1:17 ESV), is He also holding that broken and messy thing together? Is the Lord doing something good in it because He is holding it in His sovereignty, love, goodness, and mercy?

Joseph tells us He is. In a life of continually unwanted, suddenly unpleasant, seemingly disastrous changes, Joseph looked back on what God had done and proclaimed God meant it for good in Gen. 50:20. 

I can now look back at our hard changes and transitions and see His goodness. But during those hard changes? They were hard to understand. I inhale Elisabeth Elliot’s words: “I’m not asked to understand, only to trust…It has to be designed for good, because He loved me and gave Himself for me” (Keep a Quiet Heart, p. 44). The hymn-writer puts it this way:

I am not skilled to understand what God has willed,

what God has planned;

I only know at his right hand is One who is my Savior!

I Am Not Skilled to Understand (Greenwell, D., 1873)

If it’s all good…and our good, loving, and merciful Lord is holding it all and holding us, can we praise Him into this change? Let’s praise Him through Scripture and songs as we pray together for a moment.

I praise You for Your always-goodness

O Praise the Lord, for He Is Good (Hawes, T., 1794)

I praise You for drawing me near to You in this hard change

I am Thine, O Lord, I Have Heard Thy Voice (Crosby, F. J., 1875)

I praise You for Your grace in helping me to be content, even in this hard change

I Am Not Skilled to Understand (Greenwell, D., 1873)

For He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with good (Ps. 107:9 AMPC).

Come, Thou fount of ev’ry blessing,

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing,

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above;

Praise the mount! I’m fixed upon it,

mount of God’s unchanging love.

Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Robinson, R., 1758)

Let’s take a praise interruption today, fueling our trust as we glorify Him in personal worship. Let’s praise the Lord for His unchanging goodness, love, mercy, grace, and sovereign reign over all that is happening, even in the hard changes. I am joining you!

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