Ep. 83 | Every Chance I Get I'll Bless Your Name | Louder Than Words

Listen in as Astin Kahnk shares today’s daily devotional featuring the song "Bless God." Let’s be Formed by The Word together!

Ready to connect? You can send us a message through our website theorchardcc.org, or email Pastor Eddie Blalock at eddie@theorchardcc.org. You can also follow The Orchard Community Church on Facebook and Instagram to stay connected, and find more content on our YouTube channel.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Music has a unique way of touching the heart. A song can bring back a memory, lift our spirits, comfort us in a difficult season, or help us express what words alone cannot. That's one reason music has always been an important part of worship. Through the songs we sing, we celebrate God's goodness, declare his truth, and remind ourselves of his faithfulness. Over the past several weeks, we've been formed by God's Word as we've journeyed through Genesis. Over the next two weeks, while Pastor Eddie is away on a mission trip, several leaders from the Orchard Community Church will guide us through a special formed by the Word series called Louder Than Words. Together we'll explore the scriptures, truths, and personal stories behind some of the worship songs that have shaped our faith and encouraged our walk with Christ. Our prayer is that these devotions will help you listen more carefully to the songs you sing and deepen your appreciation for the God those songs celebrate. So wherever you're listening today, lean in and open your heart. The God who spoke in the beginning is still speaking today. Let's listen together.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Well, hey there. My name is Aston Kang, and I am the Connections Coordinator at the Orchard Community Church, and I am honored that my friend Eddie Blaylock has invited me to be a guest on this podcast. When sitting down to think about this episode and what song I wanted to talk about, so many songs came to my mind. You see, I have playlists on playlists of worship music in my Spotify library. So to narrow it down to one song was quite the process. The song I'm going to talk about is one that has helped me in one of the hardest seasons imaginable, and it's called Bless God, written by Cody Carnes. It's actually a song I still listen to because of the message behind it. In April of 2024, I found myself in the ER with swollen ankles and a blood pressure reading of 166 over 104. At the time, I was 16 weeks pregnant and thought I was just having severe stomach pain due to indigestion, but through tests it was determined, then confirmed, that the pregnancy I was so excited about and the sweet baby we had been praying for might not make it. You see, I was diagnosed with a partial molar pregnancy, a very rare event that occurs in less than 0.005 to 0.01% of all pregnancies. The fact that I was still pregnant and my baby had a heartbeat was a miracle all in itself, because more often than not, these types of pregnancies don't make it past 10 or 12 weeks. When my husband and I were told this news, we felt like we had been punched in the stomach. Our world was being turned upside down right in front of our eyes, and we didn't know how to process everything that was being said. Once the doctors left the room, after delivering the heart-wrenching news, Brandon and I cried. Then we started praying to God to move in a mighty way, no matter what the outcome would be. My first full day in the hospital was full of so many unknowns and questions, not only by me, but also by the doctors, because for some, this was their first experience ever seeing a patient with a partial molar pregnancy. I found myself anxious and overwhelmed, and I was trying to take every thought captive. Later that afternoon, my pastor at the time, John Teal, stopped by with his wife Shauna, to pray over us, over our baby, and to pray that we would feel God's presence and that his spirit would fill our hospital room. John had just gotten back from a conference and heard a song that he felt would bless us and would challenge us to trust God. The song was called Bless God. I can remember John playing the song for us in the hospital room and just crying, just sobbing. As I was reading the lyrics, I instantly felt complete peace. The lyrics reminded me that God is with me and no situation takes him by surprise, and that he will use every hardship for his good. I felt the type of peace that only God can give. Brandon and I were determined we would seek and trust God in the whole process. No matter how long we were in the hospital, we would choose to bless him, and we prayed that the Lord would be revealed to the doctors and nurses who would be taking care of me during my stay. I found myself listening to that song on repeat over the 10 days I was in the hospital, and it was one of the songs that was playing in my delivery room when our daughter Marley was born still.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

17 weeks and four days.

SPEAKER_02 4:21

The song Bless God is an anthem of worship and surrender, calling believers to bless God in all circumstances. The bridge of the song talks about blessing God in the sanctuary and to bless God in the fields of plenty, all while also blessing him in the darkest valley and when the weapon is being formed against us. Total opposite sides of the spectrum. It's easy to bless God when we have plenty and when things are going well. But what about when our hands are empty, when life hits you out of nowhere, when you get the diagnosis you were praying so hard against, or when you get the phone call that you lost your job, or in my circumstance, when it was looking like my baby wasn't going to make it. To the world, those things seem like impossible circumstances to bless God in. But we see throughout scripture, when hardships happen, God always has a plan. In the book of Job, we see Job bless God's name in the midst of profound loss and grief. In Acts, we see Paul and Silas blessing God despite their less than ideal situation of being in a cold, damp, and dark prison cell. And in Psalm 34, we see David blessing God even when he is running for his life from King Saul. When we bless God, we don't add anything to him. He is the triune God. He's complete. Instead, we are declaring that he is worthy to be praised, and we align our hearts with biblical truths. The first few verses of the song say, Blessed are those who run to him, who place their hope and confidence in Jesus, he won't forsake them. Blessed are those who seek his face, who bend the knee and fix their gaze on Jesus. They won't be shaken. These lyrics come directly from Psalm 34.1 and Psalm 34.8. In Psalm 34.1 it states, I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. And in Psalm 34.8 it says, O taste and see that the Lord is good, how blessed is the man who takes refuge in him. As followers of Jesus, we are called and challenged to bless God in all seasons and in all situations. When we choose to bless God in the hardships, we are claiming that God is in control and that the enemy has no leg to stand on. When we bless God, we are reminded of God's character. We thank him for his goodness. We remember how glorious he is, how he provides, how he comforts, how he destroys strongholds and tears apart every weapon the enemy tries to use against us. When I was in the hospital, I felt every single emotion possible. I was a mess at times. I was frustrated. I was sad. I was mad. And I was asking the question why God more times than I want to admit. It was in those moments I was reminded that I had a decision to make. I could sit in my emotions and do nothing, or I could choose to trust Jesus and choose to take each day as it came because God's mercies are new each day. And that's what I decided to do. I would allow my emotions to come, but then I would grab my Bible and I would speak scripture over the situation. My hospital room walls were covered with scripture. By fighting back with scripture, I was able to make God bigger than my circumstances. The walls that were trying to be formed around me and my baby had no ground to stand on because God was with us. I was determined that the Lord would be blessed and his presence would be felt in my hospital room, despite constantly hearing the doctors mention to me that the only way I was going to be back to normal is if I opted for an abortion. When I chose to bless God, he gave me the strength to stand up for my beliefs, to stand up for my unborn child, and to declare that I was trusting it and believing that he had a purpose and plan for all of this. And he revealed his purpose to us shortly after Marley was born. One of the nurses that had been taking care of me had been watching Brandon and I. She noticed the scripture on the walls, she heard the worship music playing, and she saw the many friends that came to our room to pray over us. The day I was being discharged, she revealed to me that from witnessing and feeling God in my hospital room, she was going back to church. And as God would have it, a few months later, I would get a message from that nurse that she had been baptized and that her family is now actively attending church. Blessing God is not denying our circumstances. It's declaring that God is worthy within them. It's a true act of worship. The next time you find yourself in a season that seems unbearable, I would challenge you to bless God. To find scripture you can speak over your situation, but also allow yourself to be real with God and how you feel in one breath, but in the next breath, just whisper the words, God, I trust you. Let's pray. God, thank you. Thank you that you are bigger than any circumstances, and thank you that nothing takes you by surprise. Thank you for your love for each of us. And I pray for the person listening to this right now. God, you know the season they're currently walking through or what things are going to be on the horizon. Thank you that you are the same God that's on the mountaintop moments of life as well as in the darkest valleys of life. Would you give the listener the strength to choose to bless you in all circumstances? And would you remind them in the midst of the storms of life that you love them and you have a purpose and a plan for it all? It's your name we pray. Amen.

SPEAKER_00 9:33

Thanks for joining us today. We are so glad that you chose to spend a few moments with us in God's Word. If this episode has encouraged you, we ask that you leave us a review or maybe share this episode with a friend. Also, would you consider sending us a note to let us know what God is doing in your life? Pastor Eddie would love to hear from you. You can find this email in the show notes. Until next time, stay in the scriptures, keep following Christ, and allow your life to be formed by the Word.