The Way Out Is Up

Sacrifice thank offerings to God, fulfill your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor Me.     NIV

     
     There’s the divine way out of trouble. You’re in the midst of trouble, pressures are against you, and you don’t see any way out. But there is a way up, a way to God: “Sacrifice thank offerings.” That sounds senseless, doesn’t it?

     In the midst of all the pressures and the trouble, stop worrying and start thanking God. Lift your voice in thanksgiving to God. Offer Him an offering of thanksgiving. Something that costs you something, something that goes against the grain, but it’s a sacrifice acceptable to God. And God says, “When you offer Me that sacrifice of your thankfulness in the midst of all the trouble, then I’ll intervene on your behalf. I will deliver you and you will honor Me.” God is waiting to deliver, but the way that He wants us to prepare for His deliverance is to offer Him thank offerings right in the midst of the trouble.

     In the last verse of the same psalm He says this, “He who sacrifices thank offerings honors Me and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.” You see, when you offer God thanksgiving in the midst of trouble, that’s the purest expression of faith that you can make. And when you offer Him that thanksgiving you prepare the way in your life, in your heart, that God may show you His salvation, that God may come to your rescue.

- Derek Prince