Praise offerings abound in creation and in the Christian marriage. Our marriage is a reflection of the love of God for His people. When we see our husbands through God’s eyes, we see God’s sons being transformed into the men of God’s plans, and a marriage praise offering flows from our heart.
Below is an adaptation of a meditation in the Reflecting God’s Love in Marriage Bible study on praise. For the full teaching, scroll down to the video. May the Lord richly bless your marriage.
The other day, I asked Keith to open a jar I couldn’t open. With one twist, he opened it and put it down with satisfaction. I don’t remember exactly what I said, but it was something like this, “My man is so strong!” He straightened up and danced a jig on his tip toes.
A small praise brought a tingle to my Beloved. Tingles come in many sizes, and even the small ones count.
Sometimes, those little praises can escalate to bigger praises as you both smile and remember each other in loving ways.
Have you thought of those praises as offerings?
Five Types of Offerings and Sacrifices
There were five types of offerings or sacrifices in the Old Testament. The burnt offering, grain offering, peace offering, sin offering, and trespass offering.
Today, we might think of a peace offering as a way to make up for something we did that hurt or offended our husbands. That peace offering might be taking him to a Dodgers or LA Rams ball game or cooking him his favorite meal and dessert.
That’s very different from the peace or praise offerings in the Old Testament.
Praise Offerings Remember The Good
There were three types of peace offerings. A vow offering was given at the completion of a vow to God, like Hannah gave a generous offering when she presented her son, Samuel, to the Lord for a lifetime of service. You can find that in 1 Samuel 1.
The Hebrews also gave a peace offering to thank God for His undeserved generosity and goodness.
And when God delivered someone from a desperate need, that person gave a peace offering to thank God and fellowship with Him.
Remembering how God had graciously worked in their lives prompted the Hebrews to praise the Lord through peace offerings.
Peace flows from praise.
Praise Offerings Celebrate God And Others
Ezra led the Israelites in rebuilding the temple.
When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD, according to the ordinance of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD: “For He is good, For His mercy endures forever toward Israel.” Then all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.
Ezra 3:10-11 (emphasis added)
The Israelites praised and thanked God with trumpets, cymbals, and shouting. When was the last time you made a loud noise in praise?
What about a loud noise of praise for your husband?
In Psalm 100, David tells us to shout to the Lord! Come before Him with singing, trumpets, cymbals, musical instruments, joy, and blessing.
And in Exodus 15, after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry land but Pharoah’s army drowned in the Red Sea, Moses broke out in song. His sister, Miriam, led the women in praising the Lord with singing and dancing with tambourines.
Joy in Praise
Praise celebrates God and His amazing works. Praising our husbands’ good works also causes us to rejoice. It can be much more than singing worship music in church. Of course, it includes singing. It’s celebrating with all our hearts, with all our being. Praise wraps us in joy—holy joy as Charles Spurgeon wrote about Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.”
Holy joy will oil the wheels of your life’s machinery. Holy joy will strengthen you for your daily labour. Holy joy will beautify you, and, as I have already said, give you an influence over the lives of others. It is upon this point that I would most of all insist, we are commanded to rejoice in the Lord. If you cannot speak the gospel, live the gospel by your cheerfulness; for what is the gospel? Glad tidings of great joy; and you who believe it must show by its effect upon you that it is glad tidings of great joy to you. I do believe that a man of God—under trial and difficulty and affliction, bearing up, and patiently submitting with holy acquiescence, and still rejoicing in God—is a real preacher of the gospel, preaching with an eloquence which is mightier than words can ever be, and which will find its secret and silent way into the hearts of those who might have resisted other arguments.
(Charles Spurgeon, Sermon 2405).[1]
How’s your rejoicing? Your holy joy? We can apply this joy to our marriages, can’t we?
Joy because of who God is and how He loves us. We love our husbands for who they are and how they love us.
Shout a praise and bring you both joy.
Gratitude In Praise Offerings
How might we think of the peace offering in our marriages? Has your husband been generous beyond your expectations? Offer him your gratitude.
Did your husband notice that you were exhausted and wash and dry the clothes for you? Celebrate his thoughtfulness the next day by making his favorite dessert, and after dinner, ceremoniously present the dessert to him with a smile, a few words of thanks telling him of his sweetness, and a memorable kiss.
A kiss of love.
Praise Offerings Recognize the Deeper Meaning
In the first week of our study, we focused on who God is, how He loves you and me, AND how marriage is an earthly picture of God’s love for us and His desire to be one with us.
This is the secret—that the gospel of Jesus and marriage explain one another. That when God invented marriage, he already had the saving work of Jesus in mind.
Timothy and Kathy Keller, The Meaning of Marriage[2]
God fashioned woman from the man’s side—from his flesh and bones. God presented her to the man, and they became one flesh, united with each other, walking with God. But they disobeyed God and sin entered the world.
Unity with God broken—for a season.
Unity Restored Through Sacrifice
Until Jesus paid the price for our sins. He took our sins upon Himself on the cross—Jesus paid for our sins when God’s wrath was poured out on Him, and He died and was buried.
The third day, Jesus rose from the dead. He walked, talked, and ate with His followers for a time. We celebrated Jesus’ victory over death and the forgiveness of sins on Easter.
Jesus ascended into heaven to sit at the Father’s right hand. There He is speaking on our behalf.
On the Day of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit fell upon Jesus’ followers, and they preached the Good News about Jesus to the thousands of people who were there. Each person heard about Jesus in their own language, and 3,000 were saved that day. The church was born.
Marriage Pictures Unity of Jesus And The Church
We learned in Ephesians 5:31-32 that marriage is a picture of the unity of Jesus and the church.
For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
Ephesians 5:31-32
Joy in who God is, in what God has done, and in how He has provided for us. We bask in Jesus’ work. We’re transformed by the Holy Spirit. Because of this, we take joy in marriage and our husbands.
Joy overflows from our hearts into praise.
Praise Offerings Begin With God And Flow To Others
Praise starts with God and moves to others, including our husbands.
Please write about your husband in loving terms. Make a list of everything about him that gives you joy. Are you smiling as you remember how you love your husband?
As you remember his goodness, are other memories popping up that you haven’t thought of in a long time?
I urge you to read your list to him and observe how he reacts to your peace offering.
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Hebrews 13:15-16
Applying Scripture In Our Praise
Let’s see if we can apply this verse to our marriage as a prayer.
Jesus, I love my husband and am thankful for him. Help me offer a sacrifice of praise to You for him and to offer a joyful praise to him for all that he is and the joy that he gives me. Help me to tell him how thankful I am for his love for You and for me. Help me to see him through Your eyes and to see how You are working through him. Lord, through You, cause me to praise my Beloved. Help me to praise him continually. In Your name I pray, amen.
Praising With Actions
Doing good and sharing God’s goodness also count as sacrifices to God and they bless God.
How are you sharing God’s goodness and blessing your husband with good deeds? That’s also a sacrifice.
It all starts with the greatest commandment.
You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Matthew 22:37-39
Reflections of Commitment
God first. Husband second. Love with all our hearts, souls, and minds. Through these 10 weeks, we’ve seen that it takes hard work, but it’s so very worth it. Why?
David Guzik writes, “Marriage is like a mirror; it reflects what we put into it.”
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Ephesians 4:32
Kindness, tenderheartedness, forgiveness as God forgave us. Kindness to our husbands. Tenderheartedness that leads to forgiving our husbands. Have we totally surrendered those hurts to God and forgiven our husbands?
Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.
Ephesians 5:1-2 (emphasis added)
Imitators of God because we are His daughters.
We can walk in love because Christ loves us and gave Himself for us.
Living As An Offering And Sacrifice
Jesus was an offering and a sacrifice to God. His offering and sacrifice were a fragrance that ascended to God.
How’s the fragrance of your offering?
The Christian walk, dear sisters, is a journey of sacrifice and offering.
We often think we could lay down our life in a dramatic way to show our love for others. But God often calls us to lay down our life little by little — in small coins (as it were) instead of one large payment — but it is laying down our lives nonetheless.
(David Guzik) [3]
Honoring God As A Living Sacrifice
I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Romans 12:1-2
Living sacrifices being transformed so that we honor God. Transformed offerings blessing others. Peace offerings praising our husbands.
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18
As we behold God’s glory, you and I are being transformed into His image by the Holy Spirit. If your husband is God’s son, he is also being transformed by the Holy Spirit.
Continue Reflecting God’s Love
May you study how God is transforming your husband and praise him for how he is allowing God to work in his life.
I beg you, dear wives, please continue to reflect God’s love in your marriage and in your entire Christian walk. You are blessing your husbands and all those you encounter when your heart reflects the love of God.
I pray that your belief in the lovingkindness of God be set ablaze as His love lights your way. May you bless your husband with radiant respect as your communication with your husband glows in grace. I urge you to continually address your anger and pray powerful and bold prayers. Continue to freely forgive and graciously give yourself to God and your husband. May you savor serving your husband as you raise your praise offerings to God and your husband.
My Prayer for You
Father, I pray for Your daughters. May their belief in Your lovingkindness be set ablaze as Your love lights their way. Prompt Your daughters to bless their husbands with radiant respect as their communication glows in grace. May my sisters continually address their anger and pray powerful and bold prayers for their husbands. Father, empower them to freely forgive and graciously give themselves to You and their husbands. Cause these dear wives to savor serving their husbands as they raise a praise offering to You and their husbands. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.
What action will you take today to offer a praise offering in your marriage?
[1] Charles H. Spurgeon. (March 20, 1887). “Joy A Duty.” Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Volume 41. The Spurgeon Center for Biblical Preaching at Midwestern Seminary. https://www.spurgeon.org/resource-library/sermons/joy-a-duty/#flipbook/
[2] Timothy and Kathy Keller (2016). The Meaning of Marriage. Penguin Books, New York New York. 43.
[3] David Guzik. Commentary on Ephesians 5, BlueLetterBible.org, https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/ephesians/ephesians-5.cfm?a=1102002
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