Worship Trains Our Tongues and Heals Our Hearts

Have you ever not felt like praising God? I’m not just talking about not “jiving” with a particular song at church. I'm talking about a season of struggling to praise Him. I know as Christians we don’t like to admit this. And I’m sure many of you are like me and often find it easy to praise God. He gave us new life, loves us even in our mess and frankly, just deserves the praise! I'm sure like me, you also want to believe we’ll always feel liking giving praise to the One who deserves all glory. But when the storms rise up around us like when a loved one dies or we face financial distress, we can begin to see life through a cracked perspective.

I'm not just calling you out here, I'm calling myself out too. I’ve been there. Sometimes things happen and we're left metaphorically sprawling on the ground after being hit so hard we aren't sure we can stand up. Whenever this has happened to me (by God's grace it hasn't happened often, but it has), I choose to listen to the truth whispered to my heart and mind through the Scriptures. The world, our own flesh and the devil would love for us to stay knocked down and cowering. But as someone I respect once said “Worship is warfare.”

Instead of cowering in defeat and using our words to become critical and our hearts become bitter, we’re gifted another option. This option puts us on a wonderful new pathway that trains our tongues to speak life and it also heals our hearts.

So how do we do this? How does this happen?

One of the clearest ways worship trains our tongues is because worship aligns our hearts with the truth. As I started to write this, I began to chuckle. My husband and I were reading through Job recently. I jokingly said “I can’t wait to get back to the Psalms!” But I know God has been using this reading of Job mightily in our lives. One way is by reminding us of God’s incredible power. God’s response to Job and his friends, after they all speak for chapters upon chapters is earth shattering and mighty.

God's word are particularly wonderful in this verse: “Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?” (Job 38:35) It filled me with awe because watching a lightning storm fascinates us doesn't it? We can’t predict when a lightning bold will strike. But God can. Worshiping God reminds us of Who is truly in charge. When God is in charge and we worship His goodness and character, it makes us more mindful of the words we use. It makes us more mindful of our circumstances too because God sees where we are and He has allowed us to walk whatever path we find ourselves on.

Worship also has the power to heal our hearts. When we worship, we open our hearts up by proclaiming the truth we were created to live in. Laying ourselves open before the Lord submits us to His will. It is His will that we live wholly and fully for Him. This includes hearts purified for his good purposes.

He doesn’t want his children to live in unforgiveness, bitterness, fearful or defeated mindsets and the like. By worshiping Him and proclaiming His truths, we can be vulnerable like clay and allow our potter to shape us however He sees fit. While it might seem scary at first, we can trust in the goodness of our God.

Surrendering our own wills to worship heals like surrendering our body to a skilled surgeon. Most of the time, it's painless. I think for many of us too, God allows worship to be an incredible life-giving experience. I don't know about you, but worshiping usually brings me to tears of joy or smiling with peace. But there are times when worship is painful. And that is OK. Because it just could mean that the Lord is healing us from something. Let's surrender to Him and praise, friends, because He deserves it and is the only one who can mend our hurt.

So friends, we pray this week that our lips would be full of praise and as we praise, we thank God that he is training our tongues and healing our hearts as we offer the praise He is due.