Sacrifice of Praise

We bring the sacrifice of praise into the  house of the Lord…if you are like me, this song might as well been up there with The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow…both heard to ad nauseum and both equally annoying. But when I realized praise is not about my feelings or circumstances its about Him, it changes things. Perhaps Job said it best in 42:5 AMPC “I had heard of You [only] by the hearing of the ear, but now my [spiritual] eye sees You.”
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Transcript

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Thanks for tuning in to Unfiltered with yours truly, Jesse B. A quick shout out to Longview, Washington, who is the newest on the list to join the uh Unfiltered Listening family. As always, if you are enjoying this content and you think somebody else would too, go ahead and share it and don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already done so. And by subscribing, you will be sure not to miss out on any future episodes. So Hebrews 13, 15 says, Through him, then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is the fruit of the lips that acknowledge his name. So, what is meant by sacrifice of praise? That seems like a strange word coupling, sacrifice, praise. In the not so distant past, I used to have a problem with that concept, or rather, my understanding of that concept, because there have been many times in life, and I'm sure you can relate to this as well, where I didn't want to praise God. I didn't feel like praising God. And to be brutally honest, anytime I heard the song We Bring the Sacrifice of Praise into the house of the Lord, it might as well have been The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow, you know, the theme song from Little Orphan Annie. And both songs are equally annoying to me. So I apologize to anybody who likes those songs. I have just heard them to ad nauseum, and I just don't care to ever hear them again. But I had often viewed praise as God being egotistical. Um, like it didn't matter to him what was going on in my life or the lives of others, as long as he got his praise, that's all he was concerned with. Now, as I have matured, I know that my line of thinking couldn't have been further from the truth, which brought me to a place of repentance about my ideas or repentance for my ideas about God. But praising God in the good and bad times isn't about God being arrogant. In fact, it's not even really about us. And when we think about arrogance, arrogance is more of a highly thought process or attitude of oneself elevating oneself over somebody else. But in this case, God is the supreme, perfect creator and rightfully in line with reality. Similar to a father's right ex or rightful expectation of respect from his children or his family, God deserves praise as the source of all life and salvation. And also we need to understand that God is self-sufficient and he doesn't need praise for validation, and it kind of reminds me of people who want to pat themselves on the back because of how much they give or how much they tithe. God does not need your money. Because he owns it all anyway, we are just the stewards of that. So in light of arrogance, we might need to self-check a little bit because I don't think it's God being arrogant. I kind of think it's us being arrogant or maybe prideful is the better word. But back to the sacrifice of praise, it's easy to praise God in the good times, but it's really not that easy in the bad times. However, I do think that it is easy to neglect to praise God in the good times. And we know that when something gets neglected, it just takes that much more effort to get it back on track, and praise is no exception. When we get that raise or that promotion, when the marriage is going great, the kids are excelling in their education and activities, everybody's getting along, and it's just a wonderful life. We might acknowledge God and thank him for everything, but then we go right back to doing what we're doing without giving him a second thought. Then when trouble hits, it's God, where are you, or where were you, or why didn't you? And that acknowledgement quickly turns to bitterness and silence. Where the sacrifice comes in as praise, it's a choice. Praise is not in based on our emotion or circumstances. It means choosing to praise and worship God even when it feels the hardest to do so, and your emotions may not be in it. By doing so, we are acknowledging God's sovereignty and his authority. And like I said before, it's more about him and less about us, especially in the way of our emotions or circumstances. Praising God shifts our perspective. It moves focus from personal problems and insecurities to God's power and serves as a reminder of his past faithfulness to us. Praise renews our spirit, giving us the courage and strength to overcome trials and remain faithful to him. Praise also reduces anxiety, reminding us that God is in control, and praise also invites God's presence. Psalms 22 3 says, But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest and praises of the praises of Israel. Israel, we know, is God's people, and if we are Christians, we are included in this as well. Grafted is the phrase that Paul used in Romans 11, 17 through 24. In my opinion, the best way to understand why God is worthy of praise regardless of ourselves and our conditions is found in the last five chapters of Job. After all Job endured, Job in 42, too, and I'm reading this out of the Amplified, said, I know that you can do all things, and that no thought or purpose of yours can be restrained or thwarted. And then in verse five, Job speaking again, I had heard of you only by the hearing of the ear, but now my spiritual eyes see you. This is what praise does for us, allowing our spiritual eyes to see God. Love you guys. Thanks for listening.