The Sacrifice of Praise

You have probably heard the phrase "the sacrifice of praise" and you may even know what it means.

But have you really experienced it? I will admit to not getting it for a long time. But I sure do now.

God wants our praise.
He wants our worship.
It is what we are made to do.
He even gifts us to offer our praise and worship in different ways…through our various talents such as vocal or instrumental music, art, loving the unlovable, giving our time, serving through physical labor, etc.

It is so easy to praise Him when things are going well. When things are good. When things are exciting. When you can see God working. (Anyone can praise through the good times.)

However, God calls us to live right, which includes praise and worship, even when it is not easy. When things are not going well. When you feel like crap. When it’s all falling apart. (This shows a maturing faith, a faith that you are serious about.)

THAT is the sacrifice.

It is sacrificial to dig deep and find a way to rejoice in the moment that you feel you are dwelling in the pit of hell. You don’t want to praise, you want to lay in a heap of your own despair and cry and stomp and throw a fit.

Whether in the really big, deep trenches of life or the little daily annoyances, God wants us to find the reasons to praise Him. This kind of sacrifice brings God ultimate joy because he knows the deepest caverns of our hearts and He knows how hard this is for us as humans. That’s why it is called the sacrifice of praise.

In the big stuff…
When I couldn’t get pregnant and "thoroughly disgusted" didn’t even scratch the surface on that subject, it was hard to find something to praise about. But over time I learned to praise God for the experience, to praise Him for the chance to help others who might go through it, to praise Him for helping me learn to rely on Him, to praise Him for the reminder that He is in control (Jer. 29).

And in the small…
He wants our praise for the chaos of life: Thank you God, for a rich, and exciting life…it sure ain’t boring at my house!
He wants our praise for the worries of life: Thank you God, for the opportunity to solve problems in a creative way and to give You the glory…cuz’ I know you are gonna help me figure this out!
He wants us to praise him for the annoyances of life: Thank you God for your protection…surely my running late has helped me avoid some kind of accident or problem.

And He wants our praise in the disappointments of life, too... I had a series of about 4 really big disappointments this past spring. A couple of things that I had worked very hard for that had fallen through, and something where I truly believed God was leading me in a certain direction only to have the door slammed. I was devastated and exhausted, especially with it all happening at once.
But somehow through my earlier "God School" education (this is my version of "home school", but where God is teaching you stuff that you must know in order to proceed on the path He has laid out for you), I knew what I must do: dry the tears if only long enough to thank Him for what I knew He must be doing... even though I had not one clue what it was at the time. (I can actually look back on it six months later and see what "the point" was! I truly praise Him for the learning!)

That, my friends, is faith.

It’s not too late…
No matter how far into the pit of hell you have fallen, I am convinced that finding a way to praise Him through it is the first step in climbing out.

Question: What can you praise Him for today no matter how bad things seem?