God’s Breath
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise
We pour out our praise
It’s Your breath in our lungs
So we pour out our praise to You only
You give life, You are love
You bring light to the darkness
You give hope, You restore
Every heart that is broken
Great are You, Lord
– All Sons & Daughters – Great Are You Lord
It’s hard to hold back tears singing this song with a lung donated to me almost three years ago. I’m acutely aware that it is His breath. And even though the lungs are ours, they were given to us, both to sustain life and to “pour out our praise” to our great God and Heavenly Father!
It’s a lot harder to thank God than to praise Him. Thanking God is transactional . . . “Thank You for giving me ________,” or “Thank You for forgiving me,” or even “Thank You for loving me.” All good things.
But praise is not transactional. It’s one-way. Praise requires humility. Lowering yourself and elevating the Father. It says, “You are good-loving-brilliant-all powerful-eternal and a thousand other words.” Praise binds us to God as our praises meld with those of countless others across all time and space.
Henry Holley worked closely with Billy Graham for decades. I listened as he prayed these words . . .
“Father, we open our hands to you. Everything we have and hold, we offer to you. Take whatever you want. Give us back what you want us to have.”
Can you pray that prayer? Can I? Will I honestly open my hands and offer Him my praise, my wife, kids, house, health . . . everything I have? Will I trust Him to give me back whatever He wants me to have, regardless of what I think I need?
When I was a kid in the 1950’s, there was a man named Jeremiah who took care of the church building and grounds. He was born near the end of the Civil War. After his wife died, we’d have him over for big family meals and holidays. My dad would always ask Jeremiah to say the blessing. I’ll never forget this humble janitor’s prayer . . .
“Lawd, please just let us have the crumbs offa’ Your banquet table.”
That’s perspective. That’s humility. That’s praise.
Scripture: All the power-mongers are before him—worshiping! All the poor and powerless, too —worshiping! Along with those who never got it together—worshiping! (Psalm 22:29, MSG)
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