Then

It's a simple word, then. The word means immediately or soon afterwards. In Psalms 67:5 says, "May the peoples praise you, God; may all the peoples praise you." The next verse says, "Then shall the earth yield her increase; and God, even our own God, shall bless us." (KJV).

Only when we break out in praise will the Lord break out a promise of fertility. The earth will yield her increase and God will bless us.

At the time of writing this blog, I'm driving from Pacific Northwest to the East Coast, some 3,000 miles. And as I write, I'm sitting in a hotel which is a bit run down. My wife and I caught ourselves complaining about a few inconveniences. Complaining is very easy to do and it seems almost justifiable. After all, we paid to stay the night! We booked the hotel partially on the reviews which sounded positive, but came up short in service. In God's eyes, complaining is sin because He brought us safely thus far and through the night watched over us. There is much to be grateful even if there are challenges and difficulties.

Praise sets the altitude of your attitude.

When we complain, then follows a dryness in our spirit. We grumble and moan, sigh and become irritable about the smallest of things. Nothing is never right. How many of our spiritual lives are dried and withered from complaining? How has this effected our relationships? Who wants to be around a person who is complaining about even the most pleasant and wonderful things in life simply because it's not enough? Remember God sent snakes into the Israelite camp because of complaining (I Corinthians 10:9).

When we praise, then God will open prison doors in our minds and free us. When we praise, then God will chase away the snakes that have come into our lives as result of complaining and free us from the poison, the terrible side effect that misshapes our thinking and way of living.