"Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for He is good: for His mercy endureth forever." Psalm 106:1
I came across the following portion of Scripture as I was reading in Deuteronomy yesterday. It really stood out to me and can be related to some things that are happening in the world today.
"For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills; A land of wheat, and barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and honey; A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest dig brass. When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which He hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping His commandments, and His judgments, and His statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; Who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that He might humble thee, and that He might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end; And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day" (Deuteronomy 8:7-18).
The people were warned to not forget about the Lord and what He had done for them. When they had nothing, they relied on God and followed Him as He led them through the wilderness and provided water and manna for them. He then blessed the people with a land of plenty, so they should thank Him and bless His holy name. They were cautioned to not lose their focus on God as they enjoyed their abundance. Verses 17 and 18 seem to say that the people acted as if it were themselves who accumulated the wealth through their own power but in reality it was God who gave them the power to get wealth. When we feel like everything's going well we must not forsake God. He's not there only for when we need something. We are to thank Him and praise Him for all things whether we're going through rough trials or happy times. Make Christ the focus no matter what you're going through. Give thanks to the Lord in all things!!!
I was recently reading a devotional which gave me some good thoughts on this time of year. With Thanksgiving getting even closer, let's take a look at Thanks & Giving. We know that we should be thankful for all things, whether trials or obvious blessings. We should count our blessings every day and praise the Lord for the many things that He does for us. We basically understand the 'Thanks' part of Thanksgiving even if we don't always practice it as we should. But what about the 'Giving' part? We need to make sure we're taking a part in this, whether it's by giving a simple gift or by giving your time to help someone. Giving is a very important aspect of this time of year, as it should be all year long.
"Go break to the needy sweet charity's bread;
For giving is living," the angel said.
"And must I be giving again and again?"
My peevish and pitiless answer ran.
"Oh, no," said the angel, piercing me through,
"Just give till the Master stops giving to you!"
~Anonymous
For giving is living," the angel said.
"And must I be giving again and again?"
My peevish and pitiless answer ran.
"Oh, no," said the angel, piercing me through,
"Just give till the Master stops giving to you!"
~Anonymous
God has never stopped giving to us so we should keep giving to others. Both "Thanks" and "Giving" are part of Thanksgiving and should be part of how we live. These things can be a wonderful means of the glorifying the Father! Let's never stopped thanking His precious name!!