Praising Through the Chaos

 This time of year the world gets loud. I mean really loud. Everywhere you turn, you can hear the volume of laughter, people’s voices rise and their echoes carry through the malls, restaurants and stores. Family and friends gather around big-screen TVs to watch their favorite college football games. Coaches yell from the sidelines. Referees shout above the booing of bad calls. And it’s just loud. And chaotic.  And in the midst of this time, the reason for the season, there is the anticipation of the arrival of the Christ child.

The world has done a really good job of creating all kinds of distractions so that we lose our focus on the hope of this season and instead get caught up in the chaos of this season. The chaos of noise, of revelry and rivalry, of consumerism and it seeks to drown out the sound of our praise for the newborn king. Chaos comes to silence our praise. Chaos comes to dampen our spirits. Chaos comes to discourage us and to make us give up. But as a people of faith, we have to adjust the volume of the chaos.

How then do we turn this chaos into a shout of praise? How do we remix its purpose so that chaos really turns into something useful? I’d like for us to consider the letters in the word chaos and see how we can remix it so that it causes us to break into a praise shout as we celebrate this season of Advent, which is the celebration of the arrival of Jesus Christ. In other words, it's about celebrating the birth of the Christ child rather than celebrating the "sixty percent off" signs in the mall.

 

C is for clarity. In the midst of the hustle and bustle of situations that can leave us disappointed, frustrated and searching for the newborn King, God wants us to have clarity in a time that can seem confusing. God is always within an earshot of your prayer or praise.

H is for hope. Our hope is in the Prince of Peace, Everlasting Father and the King of Kings. It’s so easy to be let down by broken promises and unmet expectations, but the hope of Christ will never let us down.

A is for assurance. We have the blessed assurance that God will never leave us nor forsake us. God is always present in our situations and He is just a praise shout away. Just like having insurance for your car or your home, we have something greater and unfailing - a non-expiring bond with God through God's assurance.

O is for omnipotence. God has unlimited power and is able to do anything but fail. This is our reminder in the midst of chaos that God can turn any situation around for our good. And even if the situation hasn’t changed yet, God can change us in it.

S is for steadfast. God’s love is unwavering. God’s plan and purpose for our lives is firmly fixed in place and God is positioning us for greater. Even if things look bleak right now, never forget that we serve an all-knowing and all-powerful God who is able.

Finally, I want to encourage you to look for the purple in the situation. Purple is a color symbolic of royalty and signifies that the King is coming. God is coming to your situation. God is coming to rescue you. God is coming to deliver you. God is coming to heal you. God is coming late in the midnight hour. Keep a purple handkerchief, scarf, pin or purple piece of cloth with you over the next 25 days and any time you find yourself in circumstances of chaos, pull out that purple so that it can remind you of God’s peace, of God’s purpose and of the clarity, hope, assurance, omnipotence and steadfastness that is available to you now and in all seasons. Remix the chaos and praise your way through!