Tuesday Reflection – July 21, 2020 Heartfelt Thanksgiving
Imagine you are down to your last dollar with bills or other important expenditures that needs to be taken care of. Unexpectedly, someone gives you a gift that allows you to take care of those needed expenditures in a timely manner. When this happens, we feel a sense of gratitude towards the giver and we will be eternally thankful for the gift received. In fact, our gratitude will lead to us thanking that giver from the bottom of our heart. In our Watchword for today King David is offering thanks to God with his whole heart for deliverance from the enemies that attacked Israel. I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9: 1.
Depending on the translation that you read, the word praise or thanks is used. Acts of kindness will always lead to thanksgiving and praise. In fact, gladness, praise and rejoicing all go together and represents the natural response from a grateful heart. The giver of the gift gets the attention and not the gift nor the receiver. David did not act entitled to God’s kindness in delivering him. Neither did he think that it was something he should boast about and use to further belittle his enemies. Rather He took the time to praise and thank God. The focus was not on the action nor those involved. The focus was on God and God alone. Heartfelt thanksgiving must be focused on God, who alone deserves our praise and thanks. It is such thanksgiving that leads to a telling of God’s wonderful works in our lives. You see friends, in thanking God for one act of kindness, we will always be reminded of God’s many other acts of kindness towards us. Such reminding and recalling produces in us a countenance of joy and rejoicing. No wonder we are exhorted in Phil 4: 4 to rejoice in the Lord always. We can and should rejoice and give heartfelt thanks because the Most High God, El Elyon, is able to deliver us from all our troubles.The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines heartfelt as being deeply felt, sincere, earnest and unfeigned. It is not false, pretentious or insincere. In Matthew 15: 8, Jesus used a quote from Isaiah 29: 13 to identify false or pretentious praise. “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” Heartfelt thanksgiving comes from a place of excitement about what has been done for us. Praise which comes only from the lips cannot find acceptance in God’s presence. Our praise and thanksgiving to God must come from the depth of our hearts. Only then will it make its way into God’s presence, only then will it be acceptable to God. It is noteworthy that when we refuse to keep the experience of God’s works in our lives to ourselves, but like David tell or testify so others can know, we are letting others know of: a. Our faith and dependence on God. b. Our experiences out of which we grow in faith. c. Their possibilities should they put their faith and trust in God as we do. Indeed, heartfelt thanksgiving not only recognizes God at work in our lives but produces the possibility for God to work on, through and in others, especially in these times of terror and uncertainty. Let us thank God without reserve for God remains our safety barrier, and our stronghold. Amen
RegardsBevon White