Praise as Sacrifice

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

Has it ever happened to you that, even though you know...you KNOW you've read a passage or a verse many times as to become very familiar, all of the sudden, one day, you read it again and it is as if you've never read it before?  That happens to me quite often.  I know...perhaps, it is that I have so many things running through my mind all the time, that what I thought was familiar is only superficial, at best.  But...I truly believe that God speaks to us through His Word which is alive.  Therefore, it is always fresh and He can use it to send us different messages at different times even with the same words.

At ary rate, that happened to me on Sunday.  Pastor Doug was going through his third sermon on Hebrews 13...or something like that :) I can't keep track...Hebrews could be a challenging book, especially if you still have a toddler climbing all over you at church...o wait...I don't have a toddler anymore.  I just have a very sluggish teenager who acts like one.  But that's beside the point.  The thing is that, all of the sudden, I saw the supersized words of Hebrews 13: 15 projected on the wall and it was as if I had never seen that verse before, especially the part where it says: "a sacrifice of praise..."

The combination of words seemed so odd to me.  Sacrifice and praise should probably not be on the same sentence, I thought.  Praise is not a sacrifice, or is it?

I was reading through someone's commentary on this verse, I can't remember whose, and he offered the idea that praise is easy, when things are going well, that is.  But try to praise God when the detours come, when the going gets rough, when the valley gets dark and the shadows of death cover us and fear entangles us...that's a whole other business we're dealing with then.

The challenge is contained in one of the words that precede:  "continually."   "Let us CONTINUALLY offer to God a sacrifice of praise..."  That is when praising becomes a sacrifice: when we realize we must do it continually in order for it to be considered a sacrificial offering that would replace the blood offerings that the jews were required to give to God on a continual basis.  This is the Christian equivalent of the blood of bulls and rams and birds: our continuous praise.  Even when the phone rings and you hear the words you fear; even when the door slams one last time; even as the last shovel of dirt falls on the casket; even as the light switch just doesn't seem to ever turn back on; even as the sense of falling never seems to end; even as we are rendered powerless and we just have to submit...those are the moments when praise becomes a sacrificial offering which fragrance ascends to the heavens to delight Our Almighty God.

And the praise must also be pronounce as the "fruit of lips that openly profess His Name!"  Saying it aloud is how we seal it.  It's not that He can't hear us as we say it in our hearts and minds.  But we must proclaim it with our lips so the enemy hears it and flees.  The enemy can't penetrate our souls for we have been claimed by Christ and the Holy Spirit lives in us.  So, we need to say our praises aloud for the prince of darkness and deceit to hear that we are faithful and that through our pain we are offering our song of love to the God who Rescues us.  The enemy needs to hear that we are not going to fall for his schemes and that we are not going to run away from God just because our situations are not ideal.  The enemy needs to know that he is not going to separate us from Our Father and that WE know our ability to praise is not determined by our circumstances.  Just saying the name of Jesus aloud is praise!  So even when that's all we can do, let His Name flow out of your lips in Praise. There is much power in doing so!

As I walk through my own valley of shadows, I want to offer my special sacrifice of praise:  I praise You, Lord for another opportunity to trust You.  I'm afraid and I'm nervous, but I choose to trust You and I offer you thanksgiving.  Praised be Your Holy Name, now and forever! Amen!