Putting On The Garment Of Praise

I was working with a group yesterday at a Harm Reduction Center, and some of the people had been in different classes in the workshop series I teach and so I asked if they could share with each other some of the things they’d learned in the classes they‘d been in. It’s a way of reviewing material that I like to use because it gives the people in the class the opportunity to be the teacher – to share their knowledge in their own words and ways. I never know how much people are really getting from the classes – many of the people I work with have so many things they’re dealing with in their lives that I often wonder if nutrition is really something that they feel is worth their time. But when they got started talking, I heard how much they’d learned and they were so excited to share it – it’s times like that when I feel like it’s all worth it.

In the morning when I was on the subway a woman with a cane had started looking at the electronic subway map they’ve put in some of the subway cars now. They’re great except for the times like that one when the subway map and the actual subway we’re on are two different things. The subway map was for the #2 train, and we were on the #5. Very different lines in parts of the city, and although they overlap in some places it can really mess you up if you don’t know the routes. When I saw the woman looking at the map, I said, “That’s the wrong one,” and asked her where she was going. She told me the stop she wanted, and another woman in the car said she was going there too, that they’d have to switch in another two stops and that she’d help her because she was going to the same place. When the woman with the cane sat back down, I smiled at her, and she looked at me and said, “You have love in your heart.” I said, “Praise God,” and she said, “Thank you Jesus, yes, praise Him.”

In the morning when I had been on my way walking to the train that takes me into the city, I’d felt such a feeling of heaviness. I didn’t want to go into work at all – I’ve been dealing with so many stressful things that I really just wanted to call in and say I couldn’t do it today. But I don’t do things like that – even before I was born again I always had a thing about going into work or school no matter what – and so I kept going, and the Lord put a song on my heart that was written by Robin Mark, “Put on a garment of praise, for the spirit of heaviness. Let the oil of gladness flow down from your throne. Put on a garment of praise, for the spirit of heaviness. Your joy is my strength O Lord, my strength O Lord. Let these broken weary bones learn to dance again. Wet this dry and thirsty land with a river. O Lord our eyes are fixed on you, we are waiting, for your garment of praise, as we bless your name.” The phrase "garment of praise" is from Isaiah 61:3, though I didn’t know that while I was singing it, but when I got onto my train and opened up my little red leather bound New King James Bible, that’s where the Lord took me to.

There are times when we are going through it when we just have to praise. No matter what we feel like, no matter what is going on in the environment around us, no matter if we don’t see any reason for praising and when we actually feel like complaining and giving up and saying we’re done for, that’s the time when if we can start to praise that we can actually start to see and feel God moving. It’s not that He hasn’t been moving all along, but when we praise in those times when we don’t feel like praising at all, God will start to answer in ways that we can know it could only be Him.

Isaiah 61 is probably one of the most beautiful passages of the Bible, at least in my opinion. “The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor; He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn, to console those who mourn in Zion, to give them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they may be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that He may be glorified.” Those are verses 1-3, and it only continues to get better, “And they shall rebuild the old ruins, they shall raise up the former desolations, and they shall repair the ruined cities, the desolations of many generations.” (verse 4) “Instead of your shame you shall have double honor, and instead of confusion they shall rejoice in their portion. Therefore in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs.” (verse 7) And it continues on with such power and beauty. Read it for yourself – it will always speak of wondrous things.

I had my glimpse yesterday of the beauty the Lord promises us. In the midst of the ashes I have been walking around in for months, in the midst of the confusion of the subway and the sites where I work I found I could rejoice in my portion. And it all started with praise. It started with my asking Him to help me put on that garment of praise because I know it’s a promise of God that He will give it to us instead of the spirit of heaviness. It started with me saying I want to believe in your promises. I want to claim them because I’m trusting in your word. It started with me saying your joy is my strength, and it is not what I can’t do but what you can.

Blessings,

Jannie Susan