As Your Name Deserves

As your name deserves, O God, you will be praised to the ends of the earth.

Psalm 48:10

I wanted to praise God, but I had run out of steam. As our financial situation grew dire, my anxiety also grew, and I couldn’t muster up any faith or hope. I didn’t see how I could praise God when I felt so discouraged and sad.

We had lost our savings after the financial crash of 1987. My husband was out of work and depressed, and we were living two thousand miles away from family and friends. Our family car had recently been hit head-on by a motorcycle, and we didn’t know how we were going to move our furniture and family back to Oklahoma. Day by day, like ivy twining around a house and shutting out the light, discouragement wrapped around my soul.

Through a friend, I was introduced to an elderly missionary. I was amazed at her vibrant spirit. Anne was blind and disabled, but her spirit and sense of humor were alive and well. She was still living to make Christ known, in every appointment, with every person she met, just as she had during her many years of service in China and in a Japanese prison camp. When she asked me about our difficulties, she listened to my answer, but she urged me to praise God simply because he is worthy. She quoted the words of Psalm 48, reminding me that God’s name deserves to be praised to the ends of the earth. “Trust the Lord because he is absolutely worthy of your trust, no matter how bad your situation is. No matter what’s on your mind, roll it onto his shoulders and rest under his wings. Ask for the grace each day to praise him,” she continued, “and he will give it to you. Even if tears are running down your cheeks, get out the Psalms and read them aloud to the Lord as your sacrifice of praise. His name is worthy to be praised.”

In the years since that day, I have found that God is indeed worthy of our trust and our praise.

O Lord, give me grace to praise and thank you today.

There are two reasons for loving God: no one is more worthy of our love, and no one can return more in response to our love.

Bernard Of Clairvaux(1090–1153), French reformer and mystic