Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
7 31 2026
Before the Answer Comes
Learning to praise God while you’re still waiting.
Most of us check the “went to worship” box on Sunday morning and somehow think we’re good for another week. Yet all the while our souls may be distant, weary, and cold. Maybe not rebellious… just no longer on fire.
We sing the songs, listen to the music, shake a few hands, and then go home. By Monday morning, many of us are carrying the same fears, burdens, and anxieties we brought with us the day before.
Why?... Because offering God the sacrifice of praise really is… a sacrifice.
There are days when I simply don’t feel like praising Him. There are moments when God seems distant, silent, or unconcerned about what I’m struggling through. Sometimes I’m just trying to keep my head above water and somehow put the broken pieces of life back together again.
Who’s thinking about the sacrifice of praise then?
Honestly… most of us aren’t.
Yet I have discovered that it takes real courage and genuine faith to fix your eyes on Christ and praise Him anyway—not because your circumstances have changed, but because He hasn’t.
More times than I can count, I’ve found myself worshiping through tears. I’ve offered praise while my heart was still hurting and while I still had unanswered questions. Somewhere in that surrender, God began loosening the grip those circumstances had on me.
The problem didn’t always disappear….But its control over my heart began to. His Word tells us to “put on the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness” (Isaiah 61:3). Notice what God doesn’t say. He doesn’t promise that heaviness won’t come. He doesn’t pretend sorrow isn’t real. He doesn’t ask us to deny our pain. Instead, He invites us to make an exchange.
Some days are simply harder than others. Sometimes the waiting feels unbearable. Sometimes despair whispers that nothing is ever going to change. Yet God promises beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and the garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.
When I was five years old, I lost half of one of my fingers in an accident. As a young boy, I was embarrassed by it. My mother would simply point to someone who had lost a hand, a foot, or a leg and gently remind me how blessed I really was.
Then she would say something I’ve never forgotten:
“Dennis, if you’re feeling sorry for yourself… go serve someone else. Feed someone who’s hungry.
Help someone who’s hurting. Your problems won’t seem nearly so heavy.”
She was teaching me to get my eyes off myself…Isn’t that exactly what praise does?
When we worship God in the middle of our darkness, our focus slowly shifts from ourselves back to Him. Our pain may still be real, but our perspective begins to change. Left unchecked, discouragement can grow into despair, and despair can become bitterness. But praise reminds us that our greatest reality isn’t our circumstances… it’s our Savior.
Every time we open His Word, we’re reminded that He is still worthy of praise. Psalm 35:28 says, “My tongue shall speak of Your righteousness and of Your praise all the day long.” Psalm 150 simply calls us to praise Him because He alone is worthy.
Maybe praise isn’t God’s way of pretending our pain doesn’t exist.
Maybe it’s His way of reminding us that our pain isn’t the greatest reality in our lives—He is.
Next time we’ll discover why Scripture calls praise a “sacrifice,” what it accomplishes in our hearts, and why worship often changes us long before it changes our circumstances.
Prayer
Father, help me lay these burdens at Your feet as many times each day as necessary. Help my unbelief.
Teach me to trust Your heart when I cannot understand Your hand. When fear grows louder than faith,
remind me that You are still on the throne. Teach me to praise You in the middle of my storm,
believing that You are already at work even when I cannot yet see it. Amen.
“What part of this hit home for you this morning? What are you carrying today that needs prayer? If you’d like, send me a prayer request here. Let’s invite the Holy Spirit in together. (where two are gathered.) You are not walking alone. Just hit reply…
I read every response.”
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You Are My Refuge (Psalm 91:2
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