Is it worth it? Is HE worth it?
“Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable!” (Psalm 145 v 3)
“For it is good to sing praises to our God; for he is beautiful, and a song of praise is fitting!” (Psalm 147 v 1)
The Psalms come to a glorious crescendo at their end, with one big, clear application: praise the LORD! This post is the last in a series of posts written to help us to seek the Lord in the midst of our current situation with lockdown, specifically through the Psalms.
Yes, we want to seek the LORD. But when we find him, if we’ve found him, we will praise him! In the last six Psalms of the collection, the writer says, “Praise the LORD!” at least twenty five times, and that’s not including the commands to sing, to make music, to make melody, to be glad, to be joyful. The Psalmist concludes: the LORD is worth your praise.
A question of worth
Often during painful times in my life, I have found myself thinking about the concept of “worth.” When life has felt futile and full of anguish, I have often asked, “is it worth it?” When I lived in France I often wondered- is this worth it- all this pain, humiliation, isolation… is it worth it? I have felt similarly about suffering with depression: how could anything come from this misery that would make it worthwhile? The agony is too deep; the benefit too little. I suppose I mean, will I see sufficient fruit from it? What could possibly be sufficient fruit to make up for this hurt? Will I ever be able to make sense of it? I’ve pleaded with God, my heart stumped on that question: is it worth it!?
Perhaps that’s a question that is also tempting to ask now, as we try to get our heads round why on earth things have unfolded as they have this year. “Is it worth it?” Whatever redemptive purpose God may have: Is it worth it? Is it worth all the suffering? And if I keep going, keep fighting, keep struggling to find joy- will it be worth it? Will it make a difference? And the difference it does make, will it have been worth the pain?
It is true that one day we may well see the ways that God brought beauty out of ashes, and life out of death. But the glory of Biblical faith is that we don’t have to look forward, to find out if our suffering will be worthwhile. Instead, we can look to the LORD, and we can ask a subtly different but significantly more powerful question: is he worth it?
A better question of worth
Is he worth it? Is he worth my fighting for joy? Is he worth my suffering, my weakness, my days of frustration? Is he worth my fumbling attempts to hold out the word of life? And in these circumstances- of heartache and loss and waste and death- is he worth my faith, my trust? In all this, is he worth my praise?
The psalmist seems pretty certain of his answer. In the final six Psalms, he seems breathless as he churns out reason after reason as to why the LORD is worthy of his praise. And now, we’ve seen the Word made flesh- we’ve seen these reasons beautifully embodied in the person of Jesus.
The words below are a mixture of Psalm 146 and 147 and the gospel accounts of the life of Jesus.
He made the heaven and the earth;
he was with God in the beginning.
He’s executed justice for the oppressed,
and he’s been executed on behalf of the oppressors:
he’s given food to the hungry
and he’s given himself as bread-
broken so I might be satisfied.
He sets prisoners free!
“Go and sin no more!”
He opens blind eyes!
“Be opened!”
He lifts up the weary-
“neither do I condemn you!”
he watches over the stranger:
“I’ve not seen faith like this in all Israel!”
he upholds the widow and the fatherless,
“Daughter, go in peace!”
he’s in the business of undoing evil:
“Come out of him!”
He makes the weak strong,
“Little girl, I say to you, wake up!”
he blesses children,
“for the kingdom of heaven belongs to these!”
he makes peace!
“It is finished!”
I suppose someone could write something far larger to incorporate more of the psalms and the gospels! (I love Wesley’s line, “O for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer’s praise!”. Sometimes I feel the same about blog posts… but the series has to end somewhere!)
The point is, the Psalms ask us to look back and look up to find an answer to the question: “Is he worthy of my praise?” Not “will he prove himself worthy?” Because we know he already has. The Psalms are bursting with truths about the glories of the Lord: they bear witness to all that is fulfilled in his living and in his dying. And the purpose of these truths is that we might praise him, with our words and with our lives.
Looking to him for an answer
When we are in the mire of asking, “How can this be worth it? This pain, this suffering, this perseverance?”, we can find hope in looking to Him for the answer. Is the one who lived and loved, and died and loved, and lived again and loved worth it? Regardless of the outcome, regardless of how long it takes, regardless of my circumstances- he has already proved himself worthy. His worthiness was revealed once and for all, as he stretched out his hands on the cross, as he became the Lamb of God, slain for the sins of the world.
Is HE worth it?
And the emphatic answer is repeated, at least twenty five times, in case we miss it:
“Praise the LORD!”
For reflection:
Read: Psalm 145-150; Song: Is He Worthy? by Andrew Peterson
Philippa’s blogs consider the bright side of living in a tough world. She chats about school, depression, ministry, friendships and singleness. You can read her blogs and subscribe here
