Devil, You Can't Have My Song!

No time is a good time to be sick, but the first of the year, just coming back in town after being gone for a week with a ton of work to do is certainly a bad time to get sick. But sure enough, as we were coming home I started having a sore throat and getting achy. By the next morning, I was coughing and sneezing to the point my rib cage hurt and by Sunday, I had no voice and was sleeping most of the day. Then, right on cue, the Devil arrived, accusing and badgering me for missing church, telling me that I must have done something to make God angry or I would not be so sick. For a bit, I listened to his lies, and then I finally had enough and I told Satan that I was not listening to his garbage, that I am loved by God and the apple of his eye. I told him that he is a liar and the father of all lies and that sickness comes from Him, not my Father. I then told him, even if I am sick, even if I am in pain, I will praise God for his goodness and mercy and for the healing that was coming my way. I put on my headphones, turned on some praise and worship music and began to worship the Lord. Guess what? I was still sick. My healing did not come then. But I praised him anyway.
That's my message today.
It's easy to praise God when the sun is shining, the bills are paid, there is no pain and everything is going great. The real test comes when everything is not going great. When the doctor's report is bad or the pink slip comes and the job is gone.  We must learn and grow in our walk with the Lord to the place that as we face the storms and trials of our life, we can stare Satan down and tell him, "Devil, you can't have my song! I will praise the Lord in the good times and the bad. I will praise him when illness comes or when I'm confronted with death, for he will never leave me nor forsake me." He's God of the mountain just as he is in the valley, and when we can acknowledge that an live accordingly, Satan's lies will have no effect on us!
We say it often, "God is good all the time and all the time, God is good!