Have you ever experienced times in your life when worship feels difficult? Maybe you’re in a church service, where everyone around you seems to be sensing God’s presence but, for you he feels a million miles away? Maybe you’re at home, trying to sing along to your praise song playlist, but your words feel hollow rather than worshipful?
If this is you, you’re not alone.
It can happen for all manner of reasons. Maybe your doctor has given you a life-limiting medical diagnosis. Maybe your spouse has asked you for a divorce. Maybe your boss is making your role redundant. Maybe your mortgage company is threatening to seize your home. Maybe one of your children keeps getting into trouble.
In my case, I’ve been experiencing it as I’ve sought to surf the unpredictable waves of grief during recent weeks. My head and my heart seem to be out of sync with each other – and with my spirit.
But as I’ve turned to the Scriptures, I’ve been pondering a Biblical truth, which speaks to those, like me, who are grappling with this dilemma.
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In Psalms 42 and 43, David describes his longing to meet with God, his weeping and tears, and his sense of overwhelm. He feels abandoned and rejected by God, and oppressed by his enemies. He is also in pain and suffering.
Yet, three times, he repeats the same refrain, recalling God’s goodness and speaking to his soul:
‘Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Saviour and my God.’
He may not feel like praising God, but it’s as if he’s defiantly declaring: “I may be feeling downcast. I may be feeling disturbed. Nonetheless, I am making a conscious decision. I am choosing to put my hope in God. I am choosing to praise him. For he is still my Saviour and my God, no matter what.”
He is reminding himself that praise is based on facts, not feelings. It is an act of the will. A conscious decision. A choice.
Elsewhere in the Bible, it is described as a sacrifice. For example, in Hebrews 13:15, we read: ‘Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise – the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.‘
A sacrifice involves offering something that is costly; ‘a sacrifice of praise’ is no different.
It’s easy to praise God when we are feeling grateful for his blessing, guidance, help, provision or protection. It’s easy to praise him when we can tangibly see his goodness towards us; when he has answered our prayers in the way we were wanting; when we feel generous towards him. But that sort of worship, although worthwhile, doesn’t cost us anything. It isn’t a sacrifice of praise.
A sacrifice of praise is what happens in the tough times. The times when God feels far away. The times when he doesn’t seem to be coming through for us. The times of sickness or suffering, relationship strain or breakdown, grief or loss, unemployment or financial strain. Those are the times when praising God is costly.
What I’m observing is that praise becomes a sacrifice when worshipping God becomes an act of the will. When we decide to lay our lives on the altar (as in Romans 12:1) even though everything within us wants to immediately climb off it and walk away. When we choose to give God thanks, irrespective of the circumstances in which we find ourselves.
It means that offering God ‘a sacrifice of praise’ takes effort.
A sacrifice of praise declares that God is worthy, and we are not. A sacrifice of praise worships him for who he is, not for what he has or hasn’t done. A sacrifice of praise honours God, irrespective of how he has answered our prayers.
A sacrifice of praise declares, ‘for I will yet praise him‘, even if it costs me everything.
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Have you ever had times where worshipping God feels difficult? If this is you, how have you responded to those feelings and what you have done practically to navigate them?
What might it mean to you to offer God ‘a sacrifice of praise’? If you were to offer him ‘a sacrifice of praise’ today, what would it involve?
As ever, constructive comments are welcome below.
(Please note: This is my ‘thought for the month’ reflection for March. You can find all my ‘thought for the month’ reflections here.)
4 Comments
Thank you for the reminder of those Psalms. Throughout the Bible, we see how human nature takes us away from God, distracts us from Him, and it’s only by conscious decision that we follow Him. Of course, we now have the advantage of a personal intimacy with our Father, but we still have times when our emotions make us believe we are far away and can’t connect. It’s then that our conscious decision comes into its own, taking us to His throne anyway. Those verses from the Psalms are so good. Thanks again.
Thanks for sharing these thoughts, Elizabeth. I’m so pleased to hear how my little reflection on these verses from the Psalms have resonated with you today.
Thank you for this thought-provoking reflection! I will always remember a rather elderly lady, in a church I used to attend, talking about praising God when you don’t feel like it. She gave this splendid description of how she and her husband would always go to bed together at the end of a difficult day and make a sacrifice of praise. They would force themselves to choose a hymn they both knew and then, sitting up in bed, holding hands, they would sing the hymn together. I recall her saying that forcing themselves to do this would often change their sadness into joy, and they would sleep well, having given the cares of their day to God.
I love the image you have conjured up here, Andy! There is so much wisdom to be found in this sort of discipline, isn’t there? Thanks for taking the time to share.