Drown Out the Difficulties - The Wesleyan Church

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love; for you are . . . my refuge in times of trouble. (Ps. 59:16)

“Dad, my truck’s making A FUNNY SOUND.” I was a young driver.

“Have you tried this knob here?” he asked, pointing toward the radio volume. I just looked at him.

“If you turn that high enough, you won’t hear the funny sound.” Not very good maintenance advice, but in our spiritual lives, sometimes that’s exactly what we need to do: drown out the difficulties with praise.

King David prayed for deliverance, but his enemies only became louder and more aggressive. Unlike David, most of our enemies aren’t actually trying to kill us—thankfully. We may, however, pray for deliverance only to see things get worse. What then?

Confident that God heard his prayer (even though it didn’t look like it), David started singing. I think he sang so loudly that he could no longer hear his enemies outside the gate. And he wasn’t singing the blues! David sang about God’s strength, comparing Him to a fortress. He chose to center his senses on His refuge rather than casting about for resolution.

If David could do it, so can we. We can choose to praise even when we don’t feel like it. Our problems won’t go away, and God won’t change His response just because we’ve praised Him. The change comes in us as the songs remind us He is all-powerful and His plan is already in motion.

Speak (or sing) God’s praise over one of your problems today.

Carole Sparks is passionate about God’s Word and how it impacts our everyday lives! After years of globetrotting, she now lives and writes in East Tennessee.