Praising God in the hard times
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—
the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.
Hebrews 13:15 NIV
This verse is completely counterintuitive. Frankly speaking it is difficult to offer praise when you are going through dark or difficult circumstances. Divorce, death of a loved one, loss of a job, or even family or social conflicts have a way of stealing your joy and your security. Speaking from experience, it’s difficult to be joyful much less, content in these situations. But yet, Paul tells us in Hebrews that this is exactly what we need to do. Easier said than done, right? Perhaps Paul understood something we do not or perhaps he was able to tap into a secret that we don’t know about. In order to explore this thought, lets discover what praise really is, and how it might be a sacrifice for us to offer.
Praise is often our response to a particular action that we directly profit from, and we feel generous if we extend it. It’s extremely easy to praise God when He has blessed, helped, and protected us and we feel generous toward Him. Singing His praises, worshipping and talking about how good He is because we can see His goodness in our lives becomes simplistic and easy. This kind of praise, although worthwhile, does not cost us anything. It is not a sacrifice.
However, everything changes when the opposite is true and we are faced with hardships, disaster, fear, and sorrow. What then? How can we possibly muster up praise when we’ve been dealt a blow? To praise God in these times requires a huge personal sacrifice and takes an act of our will in order to lay our “everything” on the altar before a God we don’t understand. When we bring a "sacrifice of praise," we choose to believe that, even through life’s unpleasant storms, God is still good and can be trusted (Nahum 1:7). When we choose to praise God in spite of these storms, He is honored, and our faith grows deeper.
The command that Paul gives us in Hebrews 13:15 says that this sacrifice is to be offered "continually." Our praise of God cannot to be based on ours or anyone else’s opinion of His job performance. Praise cannot be treated as a "reward" we give God for His obvious blessings. The prophet Isaiah writes in Isaiah 29:13 , "These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." The people were giving lip service by not heart service. Real praise continues regardless of our circumstances. It flows continually from a worshiping heart in good times and bad (Acts 16:23-25). Simply put, if you truly love God, you will love Him in the good times and the bad.
The "sacrifice of praise" arises from a spirit that has chosen to honor God in spite of the pain that life is causing. Psalm 51:16-17 conveys this idea: "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise.” This was the heart of David, a man whom God called, “A man after His own heart”. Job takes it a step further when he said, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him; I will surely defend my ways to His face. Indeed, this will turn out for my deliverance…”
So now the question is “What do we do with all this?” Being human, we think in terms of what’s in it for us. It’s just human nature to think that way. Perhaps that question might be selfish, but I’d like to jump off the sanctimonious bandwagon and entertain the spiritual benefits of offering a sacrifice of praise. As one who has endured past storms and who is currently in a season of loss and grieving, I can tell you through experience, there are major benefits to being completely honest with God, saying “this stinks, it hurts and I hate my circumstances. And although I don’t feel like praising you, I will choose to do so, trusting my painful praise will somehow reach your heart of compassion while you will accept my feeble attempts in spite of my pain.” God honors your honesty AND He will actually fight for you! Great Segway into the first benefit.
1. God will fight for you during your hardship. When we can stop worrying which I know is difficult, or trying to fix our situations ourselves, and just trust that He’s got the situation and our hearts in His loving hands, we allow a space for God to step in and fight for us. Giving God glory for His faithfulness, is an act of trusting that He is working everything for our good, even the bad stuff. “As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir who were invading Judah, and they were defeated.” 2 Chronicles 20:22 (NIV)
2. God Will Protect You. God is a shelter from the storm and a refuge in times of trouble and He will protect us in the battles we face in this life. This in itself is praiseworthy, however, when we direct our hearts towards Him, trusting and praising Him, we find a peace that surpasses all understanding. “The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will glory in him!” Psalm 64:10 (NIV)
3. Praise Makes Your Troubles Seem Smaller. I know this from experience! I know it’s easy to focus on our problems. Our challenges seem to loom larger and all we can see are the difficulties we are facing. When we turn our hearts to praising God, however, those problems begin to shrink. As our eyes focus on God, our problems don’t go away, but they do seem more palatable. As the old hymn says, “the things of this earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace”. Strangely dim because it’s God’s power that creates the shrinkage. “Set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.” Colossians 3:2 (NIV)
4. Praise Opens Your Eyes to Blessings. When the battle heats up and we find ourselves under fire, it can be really hard to notice the blessings. We’ve taken our focus off of the good things in our lives and have turned them on the negative issues. We certainly don’t need to ignore the negative because that serves no one, however, if we fixate on the negative we lose our objectivity and once that happens it’s just a short trek to a pit of despair. Praising God will open our eyes to see all the ways God is at work in our life. We begin to see the blessings he’s given outside of these trials and we will see how he’s at work inside the battles. Set your eyes upon him, and you’ll see him more clearly. “Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land…” Deuteronomy 8:6-9 (NIV)
5. Praise Makes Miracles Possible. Do you need a miracle? Are your problems bigger than you can handle? Try praising God while asking for that miracle. As troubles are surrounding you, can you look for ways to focus your thoughts and actions on praise and thanksgiving? Doing so allows God to work His wonders through your testimony of praise especially through the storm. PLUS, it lessens the grip that the enemy has over our circumstances. Satan cannot be where God is, and God inhabits the praises of His people. (Psalm 22:3) Need the enemy to leave you alone? Then start praising God. “About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose.” Acts 16:25-26 (NIV)
One last thought: Praising God needs to be part of our arsenal in spiritual warfare and battlefield living. It really does hold the key to victorious living, even during the difficult times. For more information on God’s divine battle plan against the devil and all his schemes against us, check out Dressing for the Battle, Armed to Win. Available on Amazon.
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