Prime Your Well of Praise
Isaiah 12:3
“Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.”
Is your well of praise dried up? Is it hard to really get into praise and thanksgiving to God? Perhaps it is time to do some priming of the well. So many things can clog the well. Sorrow, anger, loss, bitterness, sickness, disappointments and so forth can cause us to draw back from praising the Lord God. Our flesh gets tired, our soul gets frustrated and angry and our patience in “waiting on the Lord” gets really short sometimes. Any one or combination of these things can cause our praise well to get clogged up or even to dry up completely.
How can we prime our well of praise?
Let’s go back and read the rest of the story in Isaiah 12.
Isaiah 12 (KJV)
“1 And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. 2 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. 3 Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. 4 And in that day shall ye say, Praise the Lord, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. 5 Sing unto the Lord; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. 6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.”
In these verses we see some steps to take:
- I will praise Thee Even though we feel He is angry, we accept His comfort.
- I acknowledge Him as my salvation through Jesus Christ
- I will trust Him and not be afraid
- I declare that He is my strength and my song
- Then joy comes back to me and I can now draw out of the wells of salvation
Out of that restoration of relationship comes:
- Praise to the Lord
- Return of prayer and trust in His provision
- Return of telling others about His greatness
- Exhalting His name publicly
- Singing unto Him, telling Him of all His wonderful works
- And a great jubilation and shouting over who He is.
We are the controlling factor in priming our well
As long as we allow our own pain and personal frustration be center front in our lives, we will not be willing to praise the Lord freely. It takes a commitment to “do it anyway” to become free of dryness of soul and spirit. Our well has to be primed from our side to allow the Lord the freedom to move in our lives. He will never force His way into our lives. His work in us and through us comes from an open invitation from us. We ask in faith, believing He will work in our lives and He accepts that invitation and helps us change.
Let’s look at another Scripture about this:
Psalm 63 (KJV)
“1 O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is; 2 To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary. 3 Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee. 4 Thus will I bless thee while I live: I will lift up my hands in thy name. 5 My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: 6 When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. 7 Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice. 8 My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.”
We see here David is weary and dry and troubled. He chooses to seek the Lord, to search out where He is. It would seem that the Lord left David, we know the opposite is true. David was doing his own thing and missed the path the Lord had laid out for him. We do the same thing, when we allow the troubles in our lives to be more important than God.
How did David get out of the depressing self-pity? He sought God, he praised Him, he ate the Word of God as honey. He also acknowledged the way God had been in the past. He knew God was good, so he sought that goodness. In the end, he got victory and was able to praise the Lord with a free heart. We can do the same thing!
Praise You Lord in the midst of our life issues!