Sing your testimony

Jeremiah prayed and then sang to the Lord. “Oh Lord of hosts, You who test the righteous, and see the mind and heart, let me see Your vengeance on them; for I have pleaded my cause before You. Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For He has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoers,” (Jeremiah 20: 12-13). At first glance, it seems that Jeremiah is not entirely sure whether he wants to sing in the praise team, or sing the blues. However, Jeremiah is showing that it is essential to praise God even in the midst of challenging circumstances.  Kingdom citizens can be like Jeremiah and pour out their hearts to God, and be honest about how down they are feeling, while giving thanks to Him for His work in their lives. How can you apply Jeremiah’s prayer and song to your experience? You may feel that you need to remind the Lord about how badly people have treated you and therefore how much you want to see Him set them straight. Jeremiah’s prayer teaches believers that if you commit your problems and challenges to the Lord of hosts, you can leave the matter for Him to resolve. Having turned matters over to the Lord, Jeremiah sang praises to Him. Jeremiah’s directed particular praise to Lord because the Lord had saved him from people who meant him harm.  Jeremiah writes from the perspective of someone who has already experienced the deliverance of God. This is important for kingdom citizens to understand because Jeremiah had only just prayed for God to deliver him. Your circumstances may look uncertain, they may be life threatening, as Jeremiah said, but you can praise God because He is in the business of deliverance. The psalmist David understood the importance of praising the Lord regardless of his circumstances. David was running from Saul.  Without proper consideration, he chose to hide in Goliath’s home town of Gath. Things turned sour very quickly and the Lord intervened to deliver David (1 Samuel 20: 1-21).  David said, “This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles,” (Psalm 34: 6). God said to Jeremiah, “I AM with you to deliver you,” (Jeremiah 1: 8). You can trust God to keep promises.