Today, if your soul is downcast, or you’re tired and your body is aching, offer up a sacrifice of praise.
SHAUNA: Hi, I’m Shauna on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. And here’s Joni with a touching story about her friend, Veronica.
JONI: Ken and I worship in a small church not far from where we live. Many families in our congregation have touched our lives, but none quite as much as Veronica’s family. Veronica is about 11 or 12 years old, and she and her mom and dad usually sit – oh, you know, just a couple of rows in front of us. Veronica likes to wear pretty hats over her blonde hair. But she also coughs a lot. I used to think that she was plagued by frequent colds. But later, I learned she has cystic fibrosis, a severe lung disease which clogs her breathing passages with phlegm.
Since I sit behind her, I sometimes watch Veronica during worship service, especially when we sing hymns. She cannot sing very loudly, and occasionally she has to gasp in between the lines. Not to mention that she’ll have to wheeze and cough as well. And when I see her struggle to sing a hymn, I wonder what God must be thinking. I mean, Veronica is so young, yet she has to deal with such a serious disability. What does God think as he hears and receives her praise? Well, actually, I already know the answer. It’s in Hebrews 13:15-16. It says, “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that confess his name for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” Friend, that is how God feels about Veronica’s efforts to praise him. Hers is a sacrifice, and he is more than pleased with her praise. God's worth is magnified when Veronica determines to wheeze her way through a hymn; it shows how much she thinks of him. Her gutsy praise demonstrates how special she thinks God is. What's more, with her limited lung capacity, Veronica inspires me to fill my quadriplegic chest and harmonize with all my heart. Praise is then multiplied!
No doubt there are plenty of times on a Sunday morning when you struggle with pain, or you’re fighting off a headache. You’re weary. You just don’t feel you have the strength to sing the hymns. But if you would just set aside your feelings, and set your face like flint, determining in your heart to praise God, no matter how massive the effort, you are magnifying the Lord in a way that just wouldn’t have been possible had you given little effort. As you grit your teeth and just summon yourself to offer thanksgivings for who God is, you are living out Psalm 141:2, where it says: “May my prayer be set before you like incense; may the lifting of my hands be like the evening sacrifice.” Oh, friend, when praise costs you something, it demonstrates the enormously high value that you attach to your Savior.
True, God is always delighted over praise that easily effervesces up out of your heart; that flows forth without you even thinking about it; praise that’s easy, that comes naturally, but his joy is multiplied when the praise he breathes has the aroma of a sweet-smelling sacrifice from you. So, if today, you are burdened by pain or weariness. If your soul is downcast, or you’re tired and your body is aching, why don’t you offer up a sacrifice of praise, just like the one in Revelation 5, saying, “Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!” Proclaim it out loud, for the benefit of angels or powers, or principalities that may be listening in and wondering what you really think about God when you’re down. Don’t let them second-guess what’s in your heart, friend. Let them hear your sacrifice of praise. For with such sacrifices God is pleased.
© Joni and Friends