Feeble, Unfettered Praise—And Why to Let Others Overhear

Out here when the day is young and the air still cool, the walking trail becomes a sacred place. Trees arch overhead, like God bending towards us. Distance thins and glory pools—and I am drenched.

I pass other walkers, joggers pushing strollers, and bike riders in race gear and wonder if they too feel the soul-stilling nearness of God. Does the sun slanting through the leaf canopy awaken their hearts to worship?

One of Bethel’s new, recorded-live songs is on repeat in my earbuds. “Show Me Your Face” is an invitation to give God full access, linger next to Him, and seek His face. I read a similar line this morning in Psalm 17:15,

But as for me, my hope is to see Your face. When I am vindicated, I will look upon the holy face of God, and when I awake, the longing of my soul will be satisfied in the glow of Your presence.
The Voice

The margins on the open pages of my Bible were empty so I filled them with lines from “Show Me Your Face.” I felt solidarity with David as the song melted away my lesser desires.

Promise & Action Step

And then, no joke, my Bible reading plan took me to another passage with this verse:

Isaiah could say this because he had seen the glory of the Lord with his own eyes and declared His beauty aloud.
John 12:41, The Voice

Other verses in Psalms tell me that, like Isaiah, David ached for more of what he knew, not for something he’d only hoped to witness.

David and Isaiah knew God wants to reveal Himself to us. He’s not playing hide-and-seek, but He knows our hearts. He understands that we often miss Him in plain sight unless we want Him more than anything else.

If we’ll listen, we’ll hear Him whisper, “Seek My face.” When our hearts answer, “Your face, Lord, I will seek” (Psalm 27:8) everything shifts. Trees overhead become a canopy of glory and the walking path holy ground, and you want to kneel right there in the middle of it all.

But there’s more, because here at the intersection of ache and glory, we find we’ve got to praise God out loud. Let others overhear.

Note the final few words of the verse. Isaiah reveled in the glory of God, then “declared His beauty aloud.” The glimpses of splendor, he knew, were for more than just him.

The promise and action step in John 12:41 is that God’s with-ness is both for us and to share with others. God gifts Himself to us and through us.

God gifts Himself to us and through us (Twyla Franz quote).

Out-loud Praise

What does this look like for us?

I think of the end of my walk, when I’m spent and it seems the road is all uphill. Life feels like that sometimes. Like we’re barely hanging in there, wishing our destination was nearer. What keeps me going is the line in “Show Me Your Face” declaring that if we can only see God’s face, it’s enough to keep pressing on.

We live in the hard while pressing into the holy. We see glimpses of glory, radiant grace, God’s face. We’re overcome—undone. So we offer back to God every ounce of our affection, the full of our feeble, insufficient praise.

And God takes what feels small—our grateful declaration that He is worthy—and plants it in the hearts who overhear. Truth, hope, and trust take root, grow, blossom. It’s the ripple-effect of simply sharing what God’s growing in us.

What is it that you worry you won’t make it through to the end? A program, a house closing, a season of parenting or living with a stretched thin budget? Where are you showing up faithfully but wondering daily whether you have the grit or creativity to pull it off? What’s your impossible-without-God dream?

Seek God there, in the middle of that tension, when you’re desperate to find Him. And as you do, keep your eyes open because God wants you to find Him. He also wants you to see the people around you who need to hear your story as they’re struggling with their own.

He also wants you to see the people around you who need to hear your story as they’re struggling with their own.

Here’s a promise for you, and to share:

He is ever present with me; at all times He goes before me. I will not live in fear or abandon my calling because He stands at my right hand.
Psalm 16:8, The Voice

Don’t give up. God’s right here, and He welcomes your feeble attempts to honor and adore Him. It blesses Him, lends you a fresh lens, and builds faith in the people who overhear.

I’ll leave you with this prayer of blessing.

May we have open eyes to see God’s face. May we also open up our lives and declare our praise out loud. May we remember that God gifts Himself to and through us.

Just a friend over here in your corner,