JUST PRAISE HIM!

In order to bring forth the sweetness, there has to be some suffering. To bring

about the beauty of the flame, something must go to ashes.

Blessings come from suffering; beauty for ashes (Isaiah 61:3). This is borne

out so well in Hebrews 12, verse 11, which says: “Now no chastening seems

joyful for the present, but painful: nevertheless afterward it yields the

peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it”

It’s like a giant hand taking a honeycomb and squeezing it and out comes the

honey. Or it’s like when Moses smote the rock: The rock received a blow, but

out came the water (Exodus 17:1-7). The heart of stone has to be broken before

the water [of God’s Spirit] can flow out to refresh the people. It’s like a

beautiful flower that’s pressed and crushed, out comes the perfume. The perfume

smells good to everyone.

Or like the beautiful music that comes from the throat of the bird, almost as

though it’s in pain, yet it comes forth with song. Even though the bird’s song

may be sad, it’s so sweet. The groans are not murmurs, but songs of praise and

thanksgiving to God’s sad, sweet song! As the great poet Shelley once said, Our

sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thoughts!

Praise is the voice of faith!

We could never appreciate the light unless we had once been in darkness. We

couldn’t appreciate health unless we had been sick. We can’t appreciate joy

until we’ve known sorrow. We can’t appreciate God’s mercy until we’ve known the

Devil’s justice.

“Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.” (1Cor.1:4)