Finding Hope Through Praise: Transforming Our Problems and Glimpsing His Sovereignty

There is sometimes confusion - even within the church - about the nature of the triune God we celebrate as all powerful in the Christian faith. Whether through misunderstanding, disappointment, or personal pain, it’s easy for people to form distorted views of God’s character. One common errors is trying to assess God’s goodness or power through the lens of unmet expectations or unfulfilled desires. When we pray and don't receive the answers we hoped for, or in the timeframe we wanted, we can begin to judge God unfairly, imagining He is either uninterested or incapable.

But honestly this faulty thinking reveals more about us than it does about Him. When we place our "big" problems before a ‘god’ that we've made small—a god reduced in size who conforms to our emotions, limited logic, or life experiences—the result is almost always fear, worry, and a sense of futility. This isn’t the God of Scripture. This isn’t the Creator who spoke galaxies into existence, who split seas, raised the dead, and who revealed Himself in the humanity of Jesus Christ.

Praise has a way of recalibrating our perspective to honor this God, as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

When we choose to praise God - not for what we’ve received, but for who He is - we allow our hearts and minds to expand in understanding. We begin to behold His infinite greatness, His eternal wisdom, and His limitless power. And in doing so, the space that once held worry and anxiety begins to shrink. Praise doesn’t deny our problems; it repositions them in light of God’s majesty.

A powerful illustration of this truth comes through the 2018 song, "New Wine," by Brooke Ligertwood. The lyrics speak of surrender, transformation, and trust in God’s refining process. “Make me a vessel,” the song declares, “make me an offering,” since the follower knows His dominion and through our permission for His divine renewal, God will produce something new – of great value to Him and for His transcendent purpose. Praise is central to that surrender. It’s not passive, but active agreement with God’s work in our lives, even when we don’t understand it.

Through praise, we stop demanding that God operate on our terms. We celebrate that His ways are far above ours - higher, wiser, and more beautiful than anything we could imagine. As we yield, we are progressively changed into His image. We become vessels He can use more fully and completely, channels through which His glory flows as a praise offering for another to taste and experience.

And in that space of surrendered praise, problems become something entirely different. They’re no longer just barriers or burdens. They become opportunities - an invitation for God to demonstrate His faithfulness, His power, and His unwavering commitment to His people. Over and over again, we see this pattern: praise, surrender, transformation, and mission which ultimately leads back to praise to our God – the Author and Perfector of this process.

The triune God - Father, Son, and Spirit - is not distant or indifferent. He is near. He is good. And He is fully capable. When we praise Him as He truly is, worry has no room to grow, and faith continues to flourish. So let your praise to and for God rise; not as a feeling, but as a declaration of truth, trust, and reverence. Because our sovereign God is worthy, both yesterday, today and forever.