A sacrifice of praise

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. – Hebrews 13.15

I don’t always have an easy time being thankful. I try to  - but I sadly let circumstances get in the way of my praise. I don’t like it when I do that. I know it is wrong. But there are times when I just can’t see the way though. 

And therein lies the rub. I get in trouble when I look at what I can see instead of what I cannot see. 

There is something that should be a continual part of my life. It really is not something that ought to come and go. Why then do we have times when it is hard to give thanks and praise? 

I think the reason is that we don’t want to take our hands off our lives. We think that we know best and when things don’t go our way or according to our plan we don’t like it. For us to give thanks God and praise Him in hard times we need to sacrifice our own pride and admit that it really is all up to Him. 

For me at least it takes an effort to sacrifice my goals and desires and whims to God’s will and plans. And not only that, I (and we) need to be able to not do it grudgingly but with praise and thanksgiving. 

If we really believe that God is in control, that He is good, and that He loves us I can give over my own wants and give Him thanks for all He does and praise Him continually – no matter what.