“Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits” (Psalm 103:2 NKJV).
As we approach the end of the year it is necessary for us to begin to take stock of the blessings we have received from God this year. It is often so easy for us to cry out to God in desperation in times of grave need and forget to thank Him when our problems are solved. Many of us can testify to God’s numerous interventions in our lives during the year for which we have not shown meaningful appreciation, and by so doing take His manifold kindness towards us for granted. I once heard a story of a man who got lost in a thick forest and after several days of futile efforts to locate his bearing, cried out in desperation to God to send someone to show him the way out. Soon after he prayed a hunter came by him and obliged to his earnest plea to show him the way out of the forest. A few days later the man who was previously lost in the forest shared the story of how he got lost in the forest and how he prayed and a hunter helped him find his way out. One of his listeners asked in sober tone, “Did God answer your prayers?” The man said, “well….before God could do something to help, a hunter came by and showed me the way out.” What do you say of this man? Call him an ingrate and you would certainly not be wrong. Call him a bounder or a lout and you will still be within the range of decency. But aren’t we all sometimes guilty of not recognizing God’s blessings in our lives to some degree? The Psalmist invites us to count our blessings and make intentional preparations on how to adequately express our appreciation to God for all His benefits towards us. This is a delightful duty we owe Him and to ourselves.
Count God’s benefits, thank Him wholeheartedly. Forgiveness, healing, redemption – owe Him everything. Make thanksgiving a sacrifice, holy and acceptable in Jesus’ name.
Here is the big question, what benefits are we being called upon to remember? I presume the answer is evident in the text –“all His benefits.” The Psalmist enumerated some key benefits that call for our wholehearted appreciation –“Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s” (Psalm 103:3-5). What an impressive list of benefits you have received from God. He forgave all your sins, heals all your diseases , redeems you from death, crowns your life with His love and tender mercies, loads you with good things and makes you young again, like the eagle. I want you to imagine for a moment what life would mean to you outside the covering of God’s grace. The above list constitutes some of our most fundamental needs on earth. Each of them is beyond what money can buy. Take the case of forgiveness for instance. How could you monetize forgiveness of all your sins? God did not only forgive our sins, He also removed them so far from us that they do not have any effect against us again at all. “He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west. The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust” (Psalm 103:11-14 NLT). Can you ever thank God enough for His forgiveness? If forgiveness is all His benefit to us, it demands all the thanksgiving we could muster, every single day of our lives in time and in eternity.
Some people tend to see thanksgiving as paying God back for His blessings. Not in the least. You don’t have anything to pay God for anything. Come to think about it, is there anything you can truly say you have? Are all that you claim to have not truly God’s? Paul argued, “For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). We owe God everything we have both in the spiritual and material realms. Our very lives belong to Him. It is therefore imperative that in preparing for thanksgiving this year, we must determine to do so for Him and not for any self-show. Let us search our hearts like our text suggests and discover deep within us what God is asking us to do. Let us allow Him to answer the question, what shall I render to God for all His benefits towards me and our thanksgiving will become a sacrifice, holy and acceptable to Him in Jesus name.
There are no comments