The Right Channel

It’s been happening little by little… but I think were almost there… when it comes to the installation of my new home entertainment system, that is.  My son-in-law who owns Tulsa Smart Home Solutions, has been working on the system with one of his employees as their schedule permits.  I am getting quite a deal on everything so I can’t complain.  If anything, I am glad for my youngest daughter’s family, that they have been so busy this year!

I now have a complete surround sound theater quality environment in my living room. And with the open floor plan of the house, I decided to forgo any additional speakers in any other room, as the sound emitting from the central living area more than adequately covers the whole house.  I also have a flat screen TV on the wall opposite my bed in the master bedroom, and as of Friday, now have a smaller flat screen hanging in my study to the right of my desk.

The living room TV among other offerings, runs the full gamut of cable TV, internet streaming, Blu-Ray and even my old VCR!  The bedroom set is strictly cable TV (at least at this point), while the flat screen in the study has been initially set up with a ROKU Streaming Stick.  My plan is to experiment with the unit in the study and see if I will eventually switch completely to streaming services when my Cox contract expires.

I spent some time on this past Saturday and Sunday exploring the various channels available on the ROKU stick and quickly discovered that there is a whole bunch of different kinds of entertainment to watch and/or listen to.  I was inspired to hook up my SONY wireless headset to the study TV and realized that I can walk pretty much anywhere in, and around my house and property and still listen to whatever is being presented on that set… I thought that was kinda cool!

The guest speaker at church had shared a scripture yesterday that… in my sometimes convoluted manner of thought,… got me to consider, when I started to dissect some of the words in that verse, of how all the ROKU channel offerings on my study TV, are similar to all the channels of thought and direction that we can watch or listen to when it comes to the difficult times in our lives.  In Psalm 35:27 David declared,

“Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favour my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which hath pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.” (KJV) 

As it turns out, the beginning phrase “Let them shout for joy” comes from one Hebrew word that means, “to shout or emit a stridulous sound, that is, to shout (usually for joy)” (Strong’s)  I admit that I had to look up the definition of “stridulous” and learned that it means “to emit a particularly harsh or shrill sound, or to make a grating sound.”*  The very next phrase “and be glad” also comes from a singular Hebrew word meaning “to brighten up or to be gleesome." (Strong’s)  

I felt a little stumped after reading all that… for the idea of shouting for joy and being glad just didn’t seem to flow together with the practice of making a shrill and/or a grating sound. 

But then it came to me.  In I Thessalonians 5:16-18 the Apostle Paul tells us of the best way to triumph in hard times, when pain and/or anxiety knock on your front door.  He says that the answer is simple and that all we have to do in the midst of any trouble or tribulation is to “Always be joyful.  Never stop praying.  Whatever happens, give thanks, because it is God's will in Christ Jesus that you do this.” (God’s Word ©) 

Remember also, that before his conversion to Christianity, Paul was an Old Testament scholar and thereby understood the links between the two covenants.  He was well aware that the people under the Law were reminded to “Praise the Lord” 288 times** in the five Old Testament books of wisdom alone! (Job – Song of Solomon)!  And now, we live under a better covenant!  Therefore… if it was good for the servants of the Lord back then… then it is even better for us, His sons and daughters today!

I believe that King David was actually telling us to Praise the Lord at all times… and ESPECIALLY during the rough times BECAUSE it makes “a joyful noise unto the Lord, (Psalm 100:1 KJV) brings pleasure to the Lord, and demonstrates to the Lord that we are TRUSTING in HIM for the situation… and boldly declares that we are NOT listening to all the lies that the enemy of our faith regularly attempts to distract, discourage and destroy us with! (See: Joshua 1:9 and John 8:44/10:10)

When you read through the Psalms, you quickly realize that David was very upfront, vocal, direct and sometimes overly vivid in his descriptions of what he prayed for God to do to his enemies… Like in Psalm 3:7 where he prays for God to “break the teeth” of his enemies! (KJV)

I remember the few times I dropped to the floor in the hallway of our home in North Carolina after putting my sweet wife to bed for the night… literally shaking from exhaustion, angry at the devil for putting this infirmity on my wife and feeling like I was near the end of my rope and needing a fresh infusion of strength. 

I knew enough to keep my mouth shut and not confess what my emotions really wanted to say, but sat quietly there until things calmed down enough for me to just start saying “Praise the Lord!” over and over again until the cloud of despair lifted and from out of the depths of my soul, I’d begin to laugh!

It was like Fiver knew exactly what to do.  He would always come and lay quietly next to me until the praises got louder and then he would sit up.  When I began to laugh, he would stand up, raise his tail and pull back those big white and blue merle ears of his!  And at that point I knew that I had the victory and that the devil was running away from my house with his hands clasped tightly over his ears.  Then I would reach out to the dog, put my hand on his tall and strong back and slowly pull myself up to a standing position… and then go wash the dishes!

You see… Praise works to clear the air in order for us to hear from God.  Like on the ROKU Streaming Stick, it is the Faith-Based channels that connects us to the benefits of the kingdom of God for us who believe in Him.  When I am down, I always choose the PRAISE channel of God that helps me to enter into His peace and victory right smack in the middle of any situation that I may encounter in my daily life!

How About You?

 

*The Oxford Online Dictionary and Dictionary.com

**In the King James Version