Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
10/28/2022
What does the sacrifice of praise cost?
I have a dearest friend struggling physically with Covid remnants and cancer, but he praises God in spite of his trials. I have another whose wife's Dad is in his final days but they are enjoying his last days while celebrating the life of Christ he has known. I have a young man who is struggling to put his life back together. I know marriages that are on the rocks and spouses who are trying to put life back together after their divorce, yet are clinging to their faith in the face of so much hurt.
I wrestled these last several days with what to share today. Then I heard.
What does the sacrifice of praise cost?
I remember the story Jesus told about the widow who put in her two mites –
tiny coins that weren’t worth anything. He commended her offering as giving more than all of the others. The offering was not big because of the size of the sum but because of the size of the sacrifice.
She gave everything
Hebrews 13:15 says, “through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that openly profess his name”
When God has blessed us, helped us, and protected us,
we feel generous and praise him.
But that praise does not cost us anything. It is not a sacrifice.
I know that Pastor Dale Brooks is praising God in the middle of his battle for healing his cancer. Because he trusts God for the outcome. Praising God in those times requires personal sacrifice. It takes an act of the will to lay everything at the altar to God that we don’t completely understand. “His ways are so far above our ways”. There are times when God does not come through the way that we thought he would. The spouse wants to divorce, a child is wayward, cancer. It can be 1000 things. God seems far away, and praise is the last thing to bubble up from our hearts. We can’t see his goodness, and circumstances scream that he has forgotten us.
When we bring the sacrifice of praise, which we choose to believe, even though life isn’t going the way we think it should, God is still good and can be trusted. Psalm 135:2 – Nahum 1:7
When we choose to praise God
What is the sacrifice of praise worth? Malachi 3:13-17
The sacrifice of praise comes from a humble heart that has been purified by fire. It rises from the spirit that is chosen to honor God despite the pain that life is causing.
Psalm 51:16-17 says, You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it;
you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings.
17 My sacrifice, O God, is[a] a broken spirit;
a broken and contrite heart
you, God, will not despise.
What does the sacrifice of praise cost?
Sometimes it cost everything.
As we pray and agree for Pastor’s healing I have heard him pray many times.
“Great is thy faithfulness”
Lord if you want to take me home, I will continually praise you along the way.
“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise will continually be on my lips!”
Ps 34: 1-3
“Measured against eternity, our time on earth is just a blink of an eye, but the consequences of it will last forever.”
Rick Warren
I’d Rather Have Jesus/Great Is Thy Faithfulness (Medley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO3rCAbdxRI
