Bringing a sacrifice of praise

I love an interesting family bookshelf – a good mix of standing books and stacked books, paired with fun and funky treasures picked up here and there. My brother has traveled extensively, so my bookshelves feature knickknacks from places all around the world, along with baby pictures and wedding pictures and clay sculptures my husband made in elementary school. For the last couple months, I have also had a visitor on one of my shelves. It was shoved up against the edge of a tray that holds our laptop. It sat unopened, waiting. 

I was experiencing some health issues, so I was referred to a neurologist. Of course, that involved several doctors’ visits and several hours on the phone, on hold, trying to get an appointment. And the earliest appointment I could get (when calling in early September) was for the end of February. 

I received my new patient packet in the mail and didn’t even bother opening it and filling it out. After all, I had a good five months before my appointment, so I had plenty of time. So there it sat, waiting to be filled out. And here I sat, waiting to get some answers. 

Honestly, the wait was excruciating. I just wanted to talk to a specialist to determine if there was any case for worry. My general practitioner gave me what I assume is the normal spiel:  “It could be nothing. Or it could be something.” She did go into a couple of horrifying options of what it could be if it were “something,” which I tried to tune out but was so unsuccessful at it that I ended up with heart palpitations, which (after another doctor’s visit) she determined was caused by anxiety. (Imagine that!)

Meanwhile, I distracted myself by studying the book of Revelation with a local women’s Bible Study. I love how Jesus tells John, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades” (1:17). 

Jesus knows these visions are going to be too much for John (and, subsequently, for us too!). But Jesus does not say, “I can see by the look on your face, John, that you are ready to turn back. Let’s just forget this, okay? I can see it’s too hard.”

This is so comforting to me that Jesus is encouraging John to move forward, even along the hard paths. And John can do this – as can you and I! –  because Jesus is the first and the last. He came before us and after us and at all times in-between. There is nothing that He has not faced, nothing that surprises Him, nothing He cannot handle. 

How I love this thought! Because I am frail, I am afraid, I do get surprised by life. But I need not fear either because Jesus is the first and the last. He was dead and is alive forevermore. He is with me. And He is with you, too, fellow believer. We can do hard things because He is with us.

Another perspective I’ve gained from Revelation chapter 1 is from John himself. John was exiled to the island of Patmos, most likely by the governor because he was too old to work in the mines (where the government would usually exile people for magic or astrology, or in his case, Christian prophecy was seen in the same category). So John is not having a little vacation in the tropics. He has been banished. 

But notice what he says in verse 9:  I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom of patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.

Did you catch that? John doesn’t blame the governor or try to defend his prophecy as from God. In John’s view, he is really there because God has ordained it and because God has work for John to do. 

What an enlightening lens for us to see the circumstances of our lives through as well! Yes, sometimes our realities are quite bleak. But there is also another side to it:  God has a purpose for us as we walk through these difficult seasons in our lives. We aren’t limping along alone, wandering aimlessly. No, He is with us, and He has a plan for us (even when we can’t see it or feel it). God is always working.

It was in the middle of Bible Study one day when I got the call from the neurologist. Something happened that, I am told, rarely happens. They had a cancellation, and they wanted to know if I could come in – in two days from when I received the call. I said, “Absolutely!” And I grabbed that packet that had sat on my shelves, taunting me for the past number of weeks, and I filled it out. And I went to that appointment, thanking God that He hears us.

You see, my mother and a few friends had been praying that the neurologist would have a cancellation, and God heard that very specific prayer and saw fit to answer it in a way that let me know that He sees us. Each one of us in the midst of each one of our struggles. He sees us. He hears us. He is with us. 

I don’t have any concrete answers to my health issues yet, but I am one step closer in the journey. And every time I glance at my bookshelves and see that empty spot where the new patient packet sat for those weeks – where I expected it to sit for five long months! – I am reminded of the goodness of God. 

In this season of Thanksgiving, I am so very thankful for the book of Revelation. I was a bit trembly inside to study it, as it is – to me! – a bit of a frightening book to study. And it has been intense in places. But it has also reminded me of God’s presence and the difference it can make in our lives as we travel these paths God has set for us. 

Growing up in church, we used to sing a song about bringing a sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord. It was such a peppy song, and everyone would clap joyously. As a happy child, it didn’t seem like a sacrifice to sing that song. But thanking God before we have all of the healing or all of the answers or all of our ducks in a row can feel awkward, but our sacrifice of praise is a powerful thing.

Psalm 50:23 in the ESV tells us, The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God. Certain versions of Psalm 22:3 say that God inhabits the praises of His people. Others say He is enthroned on the praises of Israel. Either way, I like the thought that God is honored by our praises, that He hears us when we thank Him. And living with a grateful heart changes us too.