Worshipping when you don't feel like it

Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Saviour and my God (Psalm 42:5)

Do you ever find it hard to worship? Do you ever find it hard to praise God? Do you sometimes arrive at church for prayer and worship, feeling upset, resentful or downright angry? And when you open your mouth to pray or worship, find that the words don’t come out and you can’t raise your arms or muster a smile?
 
Me too. Sometimes.
 
The fact is that life is hard. The more years I spend on this earth, the more I find that to be true! We all experience great highs and lows. And we all know as Christians we are not promised an easy time of it. It is therefore inevitable that at some time or another, we will come to a time of prayer or worship feeling rotten.
 
Going further, I have sometimes found myself thinking that I shouldn’t come to God feeling angry or disgruntled - that somehow, I am not holy enough to be in His presence. My rational brain knows this is not the case; indeed the very gospel of Jesus and grace means that we are made holy through Jesus’ resurrection, but that doesn’t stop the irrational thought taking hold.
 
How then should we respond in these moments?
 
Psalm 42 gives us some words of encouragement and some guidance. The Psalmist questions his own mood, as if challenging a friend:

Why are you down in the dumps, dear soul? Why are you crying the blues? Fix my eyes on God - soon I’ll be praising again. He puts a smile on my face. He’s my God (Psalm 42:5, The Message)
 
It’s a solid piece of advice. Even though you don’t feel like it, turn your eyes to God and praise anyway. Soon you’ll be set right, oriented towards what matters most.
 
The Psalms offer us such a rich source of teaching. I particularly like their honesty. You find plenty of examples of crying out to God, feelings of being lost or abandoned or afraid. But always, they worship anyway. They persevere and turn their gaze back towards God.
 
A few weeks ago I had a very powerful encounter with God during a time of worship at church. I had a lot going on behind the scenes and was feeling a little beaten up. My prayer life had slipped. My spiritual scorecard was a bit low. But I resolved to worship wholeheartedly in that moment anyway, coming before God as I am - warts and all. It was a liberating experience and within minutes I felt full of joy, love and PRAISE!
 
So, if you see me at church this Sunday with arms aloft crying out, please don’t think it is because I am some perfect Christian with my life in order. It will be the opposite … but I will be trying to “Fix my eyes on God” regardless, knowing that “soon I’ll be praising again."
 
Prayer - Heavenly Father, thank you that because of the cross we can come to you as we are and that you come running to us every time. Amen

Photo by Road Trip with Raj on Unsplash