Luke 23:47 “The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, ‘Surely this was a righteous man.’"
For the past two weeks, in addition to changing up my devotion by skipping my computer and going back to writing in my journal, I have started my time with the Lord with praise and worship music. These past ten months, when I get up to do my morning quiet time, my heart has been heavy and my soul has been grieved. It’s almost like there has been a huge weight that is sitting on top of me pushing me down and I have felt like I am treading through thick water and everything takes such effort. Even though I am reading the Word and I have knowledge of God’s truth, it has not been resonating in my soul, in the depth of my spirit, and even though I have a head knowledge, it’s not reaching my heart. Listening to praise and worship music sets the tone for me to enter into the throne room of God and the first thing I do when I begin to pray is to worship, to praise Him, even though my heart is heavy, even though I am in this deep valley.
In Matthew 27:54, it says “When the centurion and those with him who were guarding Jesus saw the earthquake and all that had happened, they were terrified, and exclaimed, ‘Surely He was the Son of God!’" The significance of these scriptures is that the centurion was not a Jew; he was a Roman soldier, a guard who stood by while Jesus was crucified, and he did not have the same understanding of the Messiah as many of the Jews did; however, what he witnessed moved him to not only acknowledge that Jesus was the Son of God, but he felt led to praise God despite his limited understanding. When the centurion uttered these words of confession, he evidently spoke for his men as well. Their fear spoke of a supernatural awareness of their sin and the word “surely” suggests a certainty and conviction of genuine faith.
So I have asked myself lately, is my praise of my Savior dependent upon logic and reason, is my joy based upon my circumstances, or am I able to praise and worship my Lord even when I don’t fully understand His plan? Sometimes, God doesn’t make sense, but I love the story about the centurion whose world was literally shaking and there was a shadow of darkness that had set in. He watched as a righteous and innocent man was beaten and hung on a cross and there were many who were taunting Jesus, but this man in the midst of all this chaos, chose to praise the One, this Jesus, who claimed to be the Messiah.
Psalm 42:11 says, “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God.” I cannot help but hope in my Lord in the midst of difficult circumstances; however, He calls me to trust Him and He calls me to do even more, to praise Him, to worship Him, even when my soul is downcast, even when I am disturbed and troubled, even when the earth has been shaken and my world has been shattered, and you know what, when I worship Him and praise Him, when I lift up my voice to Him and I look up, everything else fades away and all I see is His face and His glory.
– Melody
