Praise is the environment of heaven. We get glimpses of that throughout scripture—of a divine throne, of angels spontaneously bowing before God, of lightning and brilliant colors and glory all around. But praise is certainly not the environment of earth on any grand scale, at least not among fallen, self-absorbed humanity. We have to remind ourselves to look higher and deeper for the one who is worthy of praise.

Have you ever thought about the power in your praise? When you praise God in the midst of any situation, no matter how adverse that situation happens to be, you are essentially bringing the environment of heaven into earth’s turmoil. Though many people will consider you daft and distracted, you’re actually accomplishing something deeply significant. You’re shifting the atmosphere from futility to fruitfulness—from something in which God seems conspicuously absent to one in which he is conspicuously present. That’s life-altering. 

No matter how much it goes against your instincts, choose praise in the midst of adversity—not as a gimmick or a distraction, but as an intentional statement of heavenly realities. That’s one way to answer the disciples’ prayer of “on earth as it is in heaven.” It creates a one-way highway between two realms, with the greater invading the lesser. Things happen when God’s people worship him in places of distress and darkness. Power and light come in.