The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. (Ps. 118:24)
When my daughter was young, I couldn’t abide the sound of whining. I am aware that children are born equipped with a whining voice, but to me, it has the effect of a knife screeching on a plate. Thus, I invented the happy face game. It was simple—if you whined, you had to find a happy face. One day when my little unhappy angel was really struggling, she said (with a whine), “I looked everywhere for a happy face. I looked in my drawer and under my bed. I even looked in the oven.”
How many times have we whined to God about our worship services? Our whining must also sound like a knife screeching on a plate. We attend church to worship, not whine, “Why does our pastor preach so long or (so short)?” or “Why is our music so slow (or fast)?” We see our friends at church and whine about our life in comparison. God has a happy face game, and it’s pretty simple: “Let us rejoice today and be glad.”
David said he would give thanks to God from the house of the Lord. Let’s follow David’s example. Can we praise God regardless of the irritations of the previous week? Can we joyfully convey how God has helped us encourage others? Rejoice and worship!
Leave your whine at home and worship with joy!
Pamela J. Kuhn’s husband is a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University. Her favorite word is joy; her favorite place is anywhere that holds books and sells tea.
© 2022 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.