Written in Tears

Written In Tears by Luke Veldt

Sacrifice of Praise: Aligning Yourself with God

It is in times of suffering, of course, that aligning yourself with God presents a special challenge. How can you align yourself with God’s purposes when you don’t understand what’s happening around you? When your world has caved in on you?

But perhaps it’s in such times that aligning yourself with God becomes truly meaningful.

The author of the book of Hebrews talks about offering to God “a sacrifice of praise.”10 The sacrifice of praise must cost us something. Every sacrifice has a price; that’s what makes it a sacrifice. A sacrifice that doesn’t cost anything is not worth anything.11

So perhaps praise that costs nothing is not worth much either—or, at least, not worth as much. It’s easy to praise God when things are going well, and it’s the right thing to do. But if we can offer praise to God only when we are basking in His blessings, it’s an empty exercise. By praising God in the hard times—not by pretending to be happy, but by praising Him in the midst of sadness—we validate our praise for Him in the good times.

The more it costs us to praise Him, the more our praise is worth.

David will bless God, regardless of what it costs him. His attitude seems to be, “Though my heart is heavy, I will bless the Lord. I know He loves me, no matter what happens, so I choose to bless Him. I’m on His side.”

In his determination to stick with God despite his pain, David greatly resembles the most steadfast of the Old Testament sufferers, Job. “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away,” Job said on the day that he lost his children, his wealth, and his reputation. “Blessed be the name of the Lord.”

Sometimes people of faith have a hard time remembering that suffering was an excruciatingly painful process for Job. “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; blessed be the name of the Lord,” we quote Job brightly—forgetting that when he said it he had shaved his head and torn his clothes and that a few days later he was sitting on an ash heap, covered in painful boils and cursing the day he was born.

Job, while blessing the Lord, felt no compulsion to act the way a righteous man was expected to act. He questioned the justice of God, he begged God to leave him alone, he scrounged for answers to his dilemma in places that the theologians of his day thought inappropriate. He was, in fact, blessing God with everything in his being, by seeking out God honestly. “Yes, I will bless the Lord despite my suffering. I will bless Him with my very doubts and fears and despair, if I have to. I’ll keep at Him with all that is within me until He responds. Though He slay me, yet will I trust him; I’ll bless him if it kills me.”12

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10. Hebrews 13:15

11. King David understood this well. See the story of his sacrifice in 2 Samuel 24, especially verses 22–24: “Then Araunah said to David, ‘Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king . . .’ But the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will buy them from you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.’ So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.”

12. Job 13:15 NKJV: “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him.”
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This excerpt was taken from Written in Tears: A Grieving Father’s Journey Through Psalm 103

©2010 by Luke Veldt
All rights reserved.
Discovery House Publishers
Grand Rapids, Michigan.

978-1-57293-382-8
pp. 38-39

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The Ministry of Friends

What can friends do during the crisis stage to help grief sufferers accept and actualize their loss? Above all, friends should be there. People suffering grief need to know that they are not alone. As needs arise, friends can take care of them. Babysitting, phone calls, food, laundry, errands, transportation, and scores of the other details of living may be overlooked unless a friend steps in.

Friends also listen. While it is important to lend a hand, close friends also give an ear. A grieving person often wants to talk about death, but such talk may make others feel uncomfortable. Because of that, some people are tempted to change the subject to get the grief sufferer to “think about something else.” But there is nothing else to talk about that matters. A good listener gives the grief sufferer permission to express thoughts and feelings by asking, “Tell me how things are.” Or, “Would you like to talk about it?” Those who hurt often want to repeat what went on just before and after they heard the shocking news. That is healthy, for that is how people come to accept the reality of what has happened. Sometimes the details are related again and again, and it is a loving act to listen thoughtfully. Of course, a good friend also respects the need for silence and for privacy and will not force a conversation that is not wanted….

Unfortunately, although listening is essential in the crisis stage, we are tempted to talk too much and listen too little. When we are uncomfortable with grief we feel that we have to say something. Religious people struggle to say something Christian. “She is at home with the Lord.” “God must have loved him to take him so young.” “Jim is better off in heaven.” “He wouldn’t want to come back.” All of these platitudes may be true, but they seldom provide much comfort. After all, people grieve not for the loved one who has died but for themselves and the loss they have sustained. A brief, honest expression of how we feel, free of pious  phrases, can be offered if a grieving person opens up, but generally our presence speaks more than our words.

Excerpt taking from Grief: Comfort for Those Who Grieve and Those Who Want to Help
©1996 by Haddon W. Robinson
All rights reserved.

 

Just released…

Just released today, Singing the Songs of the Brokenhearted looks at various Psalms wrestling with the emotions, such as grief, fear, guilt, hate, and stress. The author, Bill Crowder, examines the Psalms with a Pastor’s heart and as a fellow traveler on this journey of life. Viewing the book of Psalms as hymns of emotional honesty, Crowder explains how they help show us the means to live through the emotions all of us feel at points in our lives.

For the first twenty-five bloggers who respond, we are offering a chance to review Singing the Songs of the Brokenhearted. To receive a copy, please email me at publicity@dhpinreview.com and send me the link to your blog. Then, when you have posted a review, please send me notification so I can post a link for others to view your site.