THE LAST RIVER MILE

Among people of faith, a commonly heard phrase is “praise God!” Normally I notice it spoken as a result of some favorable outcome, from finding a misplaced phone to hearing that biopsy results are benign. Saying “praise God” signifies gladness that God has done something beneficial for us or for others. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. This is not really praise, though. It’s actually thanksgiving; thanking God for something that pleases us. In pure praise, the focus is not on us and that which benefits us. Praise is focused entirely on God.

In praise, I rejoice in the nature and attributes of God. God is the Alpha and the Omega. (An ancient way of saying that God is unbounded by time and space.) God is truth. God is merciful and just. Above all, God is love. All of these things benefit me and all of us, but it’s not about my benefit. It’s purely about who and what God is.

Obviously, it’s easy for me to praise God when all is going relatively well with me and/or the world around me. Conversely, praise is hard when life’s blessings seem limited or non-existent. I can allow the bleak and barren times to strangle praise.

One of the most profound and powerful expressions of praise I know occurs in a story recorded in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) portion of the Bible. It’s the story of a man name Job, who loses wealth, family, health and virtually all that’s precious to him. He cries out in pain and anger, demanding to know why God would do all this to him or allow it to happen? He debates friends who offer formula platitudes to explain it all. In the midst of his agony, though, Job is determined to cling to praise of God. In one of the boldest faith statements of the Bible, Job says, “Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him.” (Job 13:18 – New International Version.) Hear that…Job is saying that even if the worst happens to him, he will hope in the One who alone is worthy of praise. That bold and raw. And it is the naked core of praise.

Many followers of Jesus, as of yesterday, are observing a season known as Lent. This is a period of 40 days (minus Sundays) leading up to the observance of the death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. It is in many ways a bleak and barren season, resulting in the crushing emptiness of the killing cross. It is a hard time in which to praise God. But as Jesus resolutely set his eyes on and his path toward the place of his death, he also says, “Though he slay me, yet I will hope in him.”

The world will not take any special note of those who praise God when all is well. Anybody can do that. Nor will the world be impacted by those who join in the flow of anger and despair when times are bleak. That’s just normal for all of us who are human. Humanity will notice, though, those who are being slain in a multitude of ways, but who still defiantly, even joyfully put their hope in the God who still makes all things new, who will establish love, justice, and righteousness, and who will win in the end, regardless of what happens to them. And they praise God in the seemingly unending darkness.

I’ll see you around the next bend in the river.