If there is anything worthy of praise

I was seven years old when I made the discovery. One moment I was looking at various shades of green the next moment I discovered to my delight that the green was made up of individual blades of grass. This transformation took place when I looked at my world for the first time through the corrective lens of my glasses.

There is a transformation that takes place in my spirit when I look at life through the lens of praise. The Psalmist experienced this when he said, “O my God, I cry by day, but You do not answer; And by night, but I have no rest. Yet You are holy, O You who are enthroned upon the praises of Israel. In You our fathers trusted; They trusted and You delivered them.” (Psalm 22:2-4) God is enthroned and inhabits our praises. When I choose to see my life through the lens of praise my spirit sees what my flesh cannot see and I experience the God of peace.

Daniel was a young man, a captive in Babylon, condemned to death or at least that was how it appeared through the eyes of flesh. But through the corrective lens of praise another story was being told. Nebuchadnezzar had had a dream and he had ordered the diviner –priests, mediums, sorcerers, and Chaldeans to tell him not only the interpretation but the dream itself. They failed to do what the king requested saying, “What the king is asking is so difficult that no one can make it known to him except the gods, whose dwelling is not with mortals.” (Daniel 2:11) The king responded by giving orders that all the wise men be executed, Daniel was one of those wise men.

The mystery was revealed to Daniel not through eyes of flesh but in a vision at night and Daniel praised the God of heaven. Daniel wasn’t held captive by fear even though he had been given a death sentence by the most powerful king on earth instead he offered praise to the one to whom wisdom and power belong. “He changes the times and seasons; he removes kings and establishes kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals the deep and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness and light dwells with Him.” (Daniel 2:21, 22)

Father, as I lift my eyes to You the God of heaven I find the world around me translated by the lens of praise. Through this lens I see clearly how You the God of peace are with me.