In the darkness of early morning the sky began to turn brilliant out my kitchen window. This definitely calls for a walk down the street to see the sunrise!
I pulled on a coat and headed out the door. Much to my surprise I noticed it was raining. I did a double take over towards the eastern sky … yep, the brilliant colors were still there. But how can there be a brilliant sunrise like that when it’s raining??
I put my hood up over my head and walked on down the driveway … and then out towards the end of the road. The sky kept turning more brilliant with each step … as it kept raining on me with each step!
I stood in awe as I took this photo … it seemed a strange contrast for there to be such a beautiful sunrise while at the same time pouring rain!
I had my earbuds in and was listening to an online sermon entitled: “This Calls for an Altar.” The point was being made that when things happen in our life, we need to stop … and “build an altar.”
For me, standing there in the rain, this was an “altar moment” … and what I gave God right then and there was a “sacrifice of praise!” A “sacrifice of thanksgiving!”
A text message came in on my phone at that very moment. Something sad had happened. Someone special was hurting.
With the rain falling on me … it was as if the rain was tears (tears of hurt and disappointment). While at the same time God’s brilliance (in the sunrise) was right there in the middle of the rain/tears. Right in the middle of the hurt and disappointment, God was right there!
Just the day before I had had my own tearful “altar moment.” I had shed tears and had given to God my “sacrifice of hurt” … and my “sacrifice of brokenness” … and my “sacrifice of disappointment.”
This little jar was recently gifted to hubby, accompanied with this verse:
“You, God, keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” – Psalm 56:8 (NLT)
I don’t know about you, but when I have tearful “altar moments” it usually isn’t pretty. Those moments usually result in a pile of snotty tissues. It was a fascinating thought that when we have our tearful times, God is able to “collect our tears in his bottle” – aka: separate out the “ick” of the snotty tissues from the “beauty” of the tears. That’s amazing! God is so amazing he can do that!
Romans 12:1 states: “I urge you, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”
I’ve heard many lovely sermons about being a “living sacrifice.” But the thing is, nobody ever mentions the fact that to be a “living sacrifice” means that it hurts!! It’s painful!
A “living sacrifice” means that we are alive. We are living and breathing. We feel things! We feel the pain of disappointment! We feel the sting of hurt! We feel worry! We feel fear!
And even when we give that pain, and that hurt, and that worry, and that fear to God on the “altar” … the pain & hurt will continue to resurface in our mind and in our heart … over … and over … often when we least expect it! That fear will come creeping back into the corners of our mind!
So we have to keep putting it on the “altar” … again … and again … and again … and again …
To be a “living sacrifice” means to keep surrendering all of it to God … every day!
All of the ick! All of the hurt! All of the emotions!
All of the worry! All of the fear! All of the frustration!
All of it!
And the “sacrifice of praise” … it’s not just for the beautiful quiet sunrise moments. It’s for those heart-wrenching “altar moments” too! For those times of fear! For those times of frustration! For those times of pain!
In fact, it’s more a sacrifice in those tearful “altar moments” because you don’t feel like praising. You don’t feel like it at all.
To be alive … to feel the pain … and to praise anyway! That is a “sacrifice of praise!”
To be alive … to feel the hurt … and to give God thanks for His goodness & His faithfulness anyway! To give God thanks for what He is teaching us in all this! This is a “sacrifice of thanksgiving!”
God is here!
God is here with us in all of it! He sees every tear that falls! And he is right here with us!
