Psalm 101:1 “I will sing of your love and justice; to you, Lord, I will sing praise.”
One of the silver linings to come out of the cloud of COVID -19 for me has been a visit from my two grandsons. The other morning, I was reading a book to them by Josh and Dottie McDowell, The Topsy Turvy Kingdom. It’s a land where for a while everything turns upside down…right becomes wrong and chaos erupts because everyone forgets the rules when the good king goes off to war. So as I’m reading about a fictional world turned on its head, I find a real-life topsy turvy world interrupting my kingdom of normal.
Because nothing feels normal. Suddenly people have no jobs. Images of deserted city streets flood our screens. And even those of us who don’t understand how the Stock Market works know enough to realize those down arrows with 4-digit numbers next to them can’t be good. Students who left for a week of Spring Break are told not to come back to school. Cancellations of everything from highly anticipated sporting events to long-awaited graduations descend on us like deflated balloons. And I imagine “social distancing” will be the word of 2020.
My heart breaks over this crisis.
And yet.
Our college chorale was scheduled to go to Ireland during Spring Break and perform throughout the country. Filled with anticipation, they had worked hard to raise enough money to go and many saw the trip as the cap on their college career. Four hours before they were to depart for the airport, the college made the decision—in light of the corona virus—to cancel the trip. At this point, no one realized we were facing a pandemic, but enough rumors were swirling around to shut it down.
Then the most remarkable thing happened. The students asked their director if they could sing one last song before going their separate ways. These kids took their demolished dreams and turned them into praise for God. They chose Total Praise rather than bitterness. It was all the inspiration I needed for the difficult days ahead.
Scripture records similar responses to adversity. On some of the darkest days in David’s life, he chose praise. It’s what got him through. It’s what got the LBC chorale through. And it’s what will get us through.
Because that’s what praise does. It brings peace into our topsy turvy.
If you’re in need of some uplift, take a listen to the LBC chorale: