Broken Hallelujah!

I have listened to that song Broken Hallelujah so many times lately either because of my own circumstances or being in prayer and feeling at a loss for someone else.  Many times our praises lifted to God are broken and frail.  We are broken and frail.  If we were to count the number of times we lifted hands to heaven in a desperate state versus from a place of steady ground the first would far outweigh it!

Are you struggling to see how God is working or how he could possibly bring beauty from these particular ashes?  I learned of a very dire situation for a friend this week and walked to my Bible praying that God would lead me to a verse that would reveal a piece of his heart in this situation.  As the song plays read the Psalm aloud as your prayer of praise.

Psalm 146

Hallelujah!

My soul, praise the LORD.

I will praise the LORD all my life;

I will sing to my God as long as I live.

Do not trust in nobles,

in man, who cannot save.

When his breath leaves him, 

he returns to the ground;

on that day his plans die.

Happy is the one whose help is the God of Jacob,

whose hope is in the LORD his God,

the Maker of heaven and earth,

the sea and everything in them.

He remains faithful forever,

executing justice for the exploited

and giving food to the hungry.

The LORD frees prisoners.

The LORD opens the eyes of the blind.

The LORD raises up those

who are oppressed.

The LORD loves the righteous.

The LORD protects foreigners

and helps the fatherless

and the widow,

but He frustrates the ways 

of the wicked.

The LORD reigns forever;

Zion, your God reigns for all generations.

Hallelujah!

We begin and end with Hallelujah, a word that means praise Yahweh!  Our lives should be as such.  The middle is a mystery, a journey that God has mapped out and often we cannot see the route or even the next destination, but we can firmly hold the LORD's hand who as this Psalm says:

The LORD:

frees

rises up

loves

protects

and

reigns forever!