I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all your wonderful deeds. (Psalm 9:1)
’Tis the season to be thankful! I don’t know about you but I don’t always feel thankful! Sadly, more often than not my lips are expressing complaint instead of praise. It seems I can always find something to grumble and complain about!
The psalmist understands complaint. So many of the psalms in our Bible are complaints from the heart of the writer to the God who controls all things. There are times when lament is appropriate.
But what would it be like to be in seasons of lament, seasons of suffering, with a heart still full of gratitude? Is that possible? How can that be done?
I think the psalmist again guides us in how to have a heart of gratitude regardless of circumstances: it is by recounting all of God’s wonderful deeds. ALL of them. I challenge you to recount ALL of the ways that God has worked in your life personally. Write them down. Go ahead and do it now! I double dog dare you! I would imagine that your hand will tire before you ever come close to “recounting all of God’s wonderful deeds.”
God is always working for the good of His children. He is doing a hundred million things all the time for them… you may only be aware of a handful of things that He is working in your life. Ask Him to open your eyes that you may see His goodness and His kindness toward you. The Scripture teaches us that the Lord is good and He only does what is good. And for those who belong to Him, His goodness and generosity will follow us all the days of our lives.
So if you are struggling to be thankful this holiday season, I want to encourage you join me in beginning to recount ALL of God’s goodness. Recount the goodness of His attributes, the goodness of His work in redeeming us through His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Recount His goodness by meditating of our future hope of eternity with Him, and the goodness that He is working for you in the here and now. Even in the midst of suffering.
Then and only then will we be able to sing to the Lord because He has dealt bountifully with us.
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