Hard Praise

“When praise is the last thing that comes naturally to us and we choose to worship Him anyway, we’ve had the privilege of offering a genuine sacrifice of praise.” ~ Beth Moore

I was reading about Paul and Silas in a study and then picked up a book I’m reading and it again talked about Paul and Silas. Sometimes that scares me because I know that means God wants me to learn something and that will require change. Who likes change?? Change that usually requires me to do something that isn’t easy. Obviously, God wanted me to learn from their example. 

"About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them." Acts 16:25

Instead of Paul and Silas being angry about being beaten and imprisoned they chose to pray and sing songs of praise. Go ahead, read that again...Instead of being enraged they had been beaten and imprisoned unjustly they chose to pray and sing songs of praise to the Lord! Can you imagine? I mean, I have had my fair share of spankings and groundings when I was a kid that felt like beatings and imprisonments, and I deserved them, but I wasn’t crying out to God in songs of praise. I was shaking my fist and complaining of my consequences.  Paul and Silas didn’t deserve the punishment they were enduring but they chose to praise despite their circumstances. Ouch! That’s pretty convicting! They chose the suffering. They chose the sacrifice. They chose knowing there may be repercussions for the path they were taking. They chose the hard and the painful. They chose to give up their desires for His. They chose to be set apart. 

“Self-help pursues happiness above all else. Sanctification is a process and pursuit with pit stops in cross-bearing and sacrifice. Holiness is the endgame. That’s why it’s helpful to debunk the idea that the Christ-filled life is filled with worldly peace and ease... unfortunately, if we pursue pleasure and avoid pain, we will miss most of the processes the Holy Spirit intends to use to make us act, think, and live more like Jesus...God calls His people to be separate. Separate is hard. Hard is good. God is best... To be set apart is to sacrifice what we want. We are called to give up what we have known and cherished. We are invited to crucify our selfish plans and dreams for the better pursuit of what God has planned for us.~ Whitney Capps

I’m positive Paul and Silas completely understood this concept. They knew it wouldn’t be easy yet they willing gave up their desires for His and praised Him for what He was doing. From the worlds point of view it looked grim. I’m sure not one person desired to be in their shoes. The jailer who witnessed the earth shaking, the prison doors flinging open, and the shackles fall to the ground didn’t know any better way but to take his own life. He knew death was inevitable by the prisoners escape. But Paul and Silas nor the others had left. They again chose to stay. Stay in the incredibly crazy situation. They knew God was at work and His work wasn’t over. Despite the chance for them to flee they chose to continue to follow after God. They chose the hard. They chose the separate. And oh thank goodness they did. The jailer and his entire family came to know the Lord because of their faithfulness to God’s plan. I have to wonder how history would have changed if they had not done His will and chose their own. Generations could have been affected by their decision to flee instead of speaking life into that jailer. It was a ripple effect of His goodness that was shown.  I’m gonna be honest and say if I was beaten and put in jail I most likely wouldn’t be singing praises. And if my chains fell off and the prison doors opened I would be Dash from the Incredibles. (Yes, I have kids and have watched this movie more times than I can count.  Don’t judge.) But I would have missed the blessing. I would have missed my purpose. I would have missed seeing God do some incredibly great things. 

Sometimes life is so hard that praying and singing praises is definitely the last thing our flesh wants to even consider. But what if that praise is what God uses to shake the earth for His Glory? What if the sacrifices we make to trudge through the hard is the miracle God intends to use for someone else to see and know Him,or maybe for us to see and know Him on an even more intimate level? 

Oh Lord, let me praise You through every hard storm and not run from the pain. Let me have eyes to see where I need to sacrifice my will for Yours. Use it all for Your Glory Lord!