“What is my barrenness? It is the platform for His fruit-creating power. What is my desolation? It is the black setting for the sapphire of His everlasting love.

“I will go in poverty, I will go in helplessness, I will go in all my shame and backsliding, I will tell Him that I am still His child, and in confidence in His faithful heart, even I, the barren one, will sing and cry aloud” (Charles Spurgeon).

That’s the comfort. No matter what happens, I am still His child. There’s absolutely nothing that can separate me from His love. Nothing that I can do or nothing that can be done to me can make me ever not His child.

I still believe that. I still believe what the psalmist wrote about never seeing the righteous forsaken nor their seed begging bread. I still believe that God works all things together for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

Worship is what happens when we get what God has done for us. Worship happens when we get who God is. If I see myself as basically good and self-sufficient, I won’t be as inclined to raise my hands in praise. But if I see my shame and backsliding and know that God still is for me and still loves me, then I will sing a little louder and live a little bolder.