Recount

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1

    God’s people are supposed to be a thankful people.  We cannot hide from the Biblical call to be thankful.  It is found throughout the pages of Scripture.  In the Psalms alone we find this word over one hundred times.  There is no room for complaining in God’s presence.  The psalmist begins his psalm by saying that he will give thanks God with his entire heart.  He is singing that, with everything that he has he will thank his God.  There is no part of him that is not touched by God’s goodness.  Every ounce of his very being will erupt with thanks to God!  There is no part of him that will even hint of complaint or sorrow…thanksgiving will be his posture.  This too must be true of us church.  We are to be a thankful people and we are meant to have moments like this when everything that we are drips with song of thanksgiving.  We should not delay in pursuing a heart like this.  We can no longer forget to fix our eyes on God’s goodness and continual activity.  We must be a thankful people.

    We may feel, though, that we go through long periods where we feel we have little to be thankful for.  Our God may feel distant and our circumstances grow difficult, but the psalmist here reminds us that to be thankful all we must do is recount.  All we must do is remember, think back, reminisce on what God has already done.  Our thankfulness flows from knowing all that our God has already done.  This is profoundly important: our thankfulness does not flow out of our current circumstance, rather it flows out of knowing and seeing what our God has been faithful to already do.  When we recount what God has done our minds should be flooded with memories of God’s faithful action, provision, mercy, goodness and grace.  If we cannot recall these many movements of God then I dare say that we do not know God at all.  When we recount we cannot help but be filled with memories that demand a posture of thankfulness to our great God.  When we recount we begin by remembering the bloody tree where God redeemed us.  We remember our adoption, our new clothes that radiate righteousness.  We remember that God has given us His very Word that we may know Him.  We remember that God has given us breath and a chance to serve Him.  When we have remembered these eternal gifts that endure then we can move our minds to thinking of the daily graces and provisions of our God that should cause us to be thankful.  Our thankfulness, though, must always be rooted in what God has already done.  Church, may we pursue being a thankful people by recounting the wonderful deeds of our God.  May we never forget to recount because we believe that it is when we remember that we will praise!  

PRAYER OF THE DAY: I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.