You Have My Attention: 6 Days of Creating Space for God to Move in Your LifeSample

Still I Will Praise

“Dad, are you even listening to me?”

I’ve got a 9 year old son, who loves to tell stories, loves to tell me what he’s learning at school. He loves to hang out and talk.

And I’ve been guilty of him having to ask that question many times. My mind wanders, I get distracted from a text, I remember that work thing I was supposed to get finished…

And every time he asks me if I’m listening to him if my focus is still on him, it stings and I feel like I’ve let him down. I wind up putting my phone in a different room, closing my laptop, and making eye contact with him. To make sure that he’s got my undivided attention.

I’ve sometimes wondered the same thing about God. I’m talking to him, I have prayer requests, I have burdens to bring… and I wonder if he’s distracted. There have been seasons in life where I’ve prayed the same thing over and over, feeling like a broken record, wondering if God was ever going to do anything and doubting if he was even listening. In those moments I am so tempted to let my faith in his goodness slip away.

But I’ve realized over the years that just because God is quiet, does not mean He’s distracted (Psalm 116). And in those seasons of hurt or the times I’m in the wilderness, God is still listening - and I have a choice to still believe him. I have a choice to still worship him. To trust that he hears me always, and His goodness and grace are sufficient no matter what I face.

It was out of this thought and desire to proclaim God's goodness even when I didn’t feel it that I wrote “Still I Will Praise” with a few friends of mine. I hope it's an anthem you can sing when things don’t add up but you are making the choice to praise him anyway.

- Mack