Psalm 118:28-29
The LORD is my God! I will praise him and tell him how thankful I am. Tell the LORD how thankful you are, because he is kind and always merciful.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
Did you have breakfast this morning? Did you wake up with a knot in your stomach because you had not had food to eat for the last few days? Did you have to walk several miles just to get your bowl of morning cereal? By the mere act of reading this devotional, you have indicated how blessed you are. You have some sort of device at your disposal that allows you to communicate with the world… to say whatever you wish to whomever you please.
When was the last time you thanked God for all of the comforts you have in your life? Even if God didn’t give us the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ… salvation… the promise of eternal life… the basic (and not-so-basic) conveniences and blessings He lavishes on us daily are more than enough to merit praise.
We take so much for granted. We have our little pity parties and lament how mistreated and misunderstood and neglected we are… how “poor” we are and how we can’t seem to get ahead in this world or we’re being taxed to death – or “they” are out to get us. All the while, we live in such abundance compared to many.
We may not dine on steak and caviar every night, but we have food to eat. We may not live in a palace…but we are safe, warm and dry. We may not drive a Rolls Royce, but we have a means to get where we need to go. And when we do have a need, God always provides. It may not be exactly what we asked for… you may pray for a Mercedes and get a clunker… but God answers with grace and mercy.
We have no problem asking God for what we need… yet we fail to give Him the only thing we can to truly repay Him besides our service and loyalty – our praise. Isn’t it time we started focusing more on giving thanks and showing gratitude? We’ll never be able to “even the score”… and thankfully, God doesn’t care about that. But we can make a dent. Are you ready to try?
©2011 Debbie Robus
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