I will thank Yahweh with all my heart; I will declare His wonderful works. (vs.1)
I start off every day with thanksgiving. Really. Before I even get out of bed. The moment my eyes open on the day my heart is speaking thanks. For sleep. It is often hard to come by for me. For new knees. My old ones wore out early. For my family, home, possessions, work. And, most of all, that I am a child of God privileged to pray to Him.
Some days don't go so well after that. I won't lie about this. But thanksgiving is also a matter of the will. I will thank Yahweh with all my heart. I make a choice to do so. Even when the day turns south and I don't get it.
When Bill and I were first married, we heard a teaching from the book of First Thessalonians (5:18):
Give thanks for everything because this is God's will for you in Christ. For everything? Really? Having taken the teaching to heart, we began practicing it. Then God gave us a pretty good test. We were moving temporarily to California from Texas and had packed the little Mustang Mach I (that's a car, by the way, not a horse) with all the good stuff we did not trust to the Greyhound bus that rolled across the miles to North Hollywood and our apartment. My wedding trousseau, good dishes, sewing machine, Bill's camera...all in the back of the red muscle car parked in front of Bill's parents' home.
As we were preparing to leave the next morning, Bill went to the car to retrieve his camera. He came back in a few minutes later and asked me if we unpacked the car the night before. Silly question. No. Back out he went to the see if his eyes had betrayed him. Nope. "I think someone stole everything from the car last night," he said rather stridently to me, his bride. Having to verify, I ran to the scene of the crime. Yep. All gone. My clothes most importantly. All I had left were the clothes I had worn the day before.
What to do. We decided to go upstairs to our bedroom, get down on our knees and thank God for what had just happened. We willed ourselves to do so. Following this was a pretty strange conversation with Bill's mom who was beside herself with rage. Bill kept saying that God must have some reason for this and that just made her more furious. Why would God want to take all the new stuff away from a young married couple? Why would He deny Kay the clothes from her back? Who was this God?
Good questions. I don't know if God had any further reason for the theft than that particular conversation with Bill's mom. She graciously took me to the mall and purchased for me a couple of dresses and a black polyester bell-bottomed outfit that can be seen in every picture we took on our drive to California. What it did for our hearts was the most important thing. It caused us to focus on His sovereignty, even over our stuff. If He saw fit to empty our car for the trip, okay. We truly had peace that His will was done. We had each other and a fun trip ahead. I might be nearly naked in California, but, hey, it's warm there.
Admittedly, I have not always since that time been so ready with a high five to God for things that go awry. But I have to always come to that. With all my heart. Because my heart has the choice to accuse God or trust Him. I am His kid. He is always looking out for me and watching over me. So I try not to worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, I let my requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4) Thanksgiving before we see what is going on is faith. And without faith it is not possible to please God. I wanna make Him pat me on the head.
I start off every day with thanksgiving. Really. Before I even get out of bed. The moment my eyes open on the day my heart is speaking thanks. For sleep. It is often hard to come by for me. For new knees. My old ones wore out early. For my family, home, possessions, work. And, most of all, that I am a child of God privileged to pray to Him.
Some days don't go so well after that. I won't lie about this. But thanksgiving is also a matter of the will. I will thank Yahweh with all my heart. I make a choice to do so. Even when the day turns south and I don't get it.
When Bill and I were first married, we heard a teaching from the book of First Thessalonians (5:18):
Give thanks for everything because this is God's will for you in Christ. For everything? Really? Having taken the teaching to heart, we began practicing it. Then God gave us a pretty good test. We were moving temporarily to California from Texas and had packed the little Mustang Mach I (that's a car, by the way, not a horse) with all the good stuff we did not trust to the Greyhound bus that rolled across the miles to North Hollywood and our apartment. My wedding trousseau, good dishes, sewing machine, Bill's camera...all in the back of the red muscle car parked in front of Bill's parents' home.
As we were preparing to leave the next morning, Bill went to the car to retrieve his camera. He came back in a few minutes later and asked me if we unpacked the car the night before. Silly question. No. Back out he went to the see if his eyes had betrayed him. Nope. "I think someone stole everything from the car last night," he said rather stridently to me, his bride. Having to verify, I ran to the scene of the crime. Yep. All gone. My clothes most importantly. All I had left were the clothes I had worn the day before.
What to do. We decided to go upstairs to our bedroom, get down on our knees and thank God for what had just happened. We willed ourselves to do so. Following this was a pretty strange conversation with Bill's mom who was beside herself with rage. Bill kept saying that God must have some reason for this and that just made her more furious. Why would God want to take all the new stuff away from a young married couple? Why would He deny Kay the clothes from her back? Who was this God?
Good questions. I don't know if God had any further reason for the theft than that particular conversation with Bill's mom. She graciously took me to the mall and purchased for me a couple of dresses and a black polyester bell-bottomed outfit that can be seen in every picture we took on our drive to California. What it did for our hearts was the most important thing. It caused us to focus on His sovereignty, even over our stuff. If He saw fit to empty our car for the trip, okay. We truly had peace that His will was done. We had each other and a fun trip ahead. I might be nearly naked in California, but, hey, it's warm there.
Admittedly, I have not always since that time been so ready with a high five to God for things that go awry. But I have to always come to that. With all my heart. Because my heart has the choice to accuse God or trust Him. I am His kid. He is always looking out for me and watching over me. So I try not to worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, I let my requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4) Thanksgiving before we see what is going on is faith. And without faith it is not possible to please God. I wanna make Him pat me on the head.
No comments:
Post a Comment