Public and Private

"I'll praise you in this storm, and I will lift my hands, for Your are who You are, no matter where I am, every tear I've cried, You hold in your hand, You've never left my side, and though my heart is torn, I will praise you in this storm."

Twice this week I have given a devotion with my teen-agers from Psalm 26:12. In this verse David said he would bless the Lord in the congregation. My study Bible made the point that so often we complain publicly and praise God privately and yet David did just the opposite, he took his complaints to God in private and blessed Him in public. I talked with the kids about how we need to really focus on changing our habits too, to keep our praise public and our complaints to ourself or at least talk to God about them.
     God convicted me with this today over the fact that in the last two posts I rather loudly complained about some recent tough times. So tonight, I want to publicly praise Him for what He's done in just the last twenty-four hours. First, someone in my church offered to take care of my flat tire for me...my poor car's broken foot is now fixed. My downstairs' neighbor agreed to meet the Internet tech and let him do what needed to be done while I was at volleyball practice and today, one of my students who works with computers offered his lunch time to get rid of the virus attacking my computer. Both my Internet and computer problems have been solved. God takes care of what Satan breaks. And last, as much as I wanted to feel alone in this onslaught from Satan, I found out in talking with my sister and Stephanie, that they too have noticed increased attacks from Satan lately. Now that may seem a strange praise to you, but at least I know I'm not alone, it's not in my head and God really is moving and working if Satan is going after other people who are praying for this.
     I told God last night that with His help, I could handle whatever Satan brought my way, just so long as the battle ended with us meeting Tebow and that I would handle them better. The lyrics quoted above are a good reminder that no matter how fierce the storm, there is always a reason to praise God and from David I am reminded that my praise needs to be public, it will help pull my attention off my troubles and focus them on the One Who will see me through the storm.