A Thankful Heart
A Thankful Heart
Psalm 69:30-36.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This also shall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns and hoofs.
32 The humble shall see this, and be glad: and your heart shall live that seek God.
33 For the Lord heareth the poor, and despiseth not his prisoners.
34 Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and every thing that moveth therein.
35 For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession.
36 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein.
Thanksgiving is the gracious expression of our appreciation to God for several things such as His dealings with us in the past, His ever-abiding mercy and love toward us and our loved ones, and His call and choosing of our lives for ministry and His glorious purpose.
This Psalm of David is adjudged as one of his writings/songs during the days of his afflictions. This set a premise for us to be thankful amid our storms and challenging circumstances. We must always look up to God in heartfelt thankfulness. Many believers fail at this juncture and resort to hopelessness and foolish questioning of the Almighty. We must make it a habit of taking inventory of all that God has done for us and appreciate Him for them. When we do this, our present challenges will become seemingly negligible and faith will arise in our hearts to overcome.
Just as David from our text, we are to present our request and prayers after we have first appreciated God for the ones He has done for us in the past- Psalm 69:33-36; Philippians 4:6.
Grateful Christians are graceful Christians. Our appreciation is also reflected in the way and manner we live our lives for His glory. Our lives ought to be a sweet-smelling fragrance of praise and thanksgiving to God always. Sin, selfishness, and pride render our life uninhabitable for God to dwell- Psalm 22:3. Our lives should be living testament of the manifold grace of God bestowed upon mortal men, and it should abound in manifest humility with unrestrained joyfulness and soaring praise. A preacher/author Richard Allen Bodey wrote “The Christian life is a song of thanksgiving and a glad and joyous hymn of praise to God”.
Author Bro. A. Faola.
