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8/8 Reading Portions: Ruth 1; Acts 26; Jeremiah 36, 45; Psalm 9
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of Your wonderful deeds. Psalm 9:1
GRATITUDE
There have been times when my gratitude to God has been half-hearted or absent altogether. Thanksgiving becomes increasingly absent for the Christian believer who fails to bring his head and his heart to the cross of Jesus Christ— for what deeds of God are more wonderful than the incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, ascension, and promised return of Christ?
Naomi was ungrateful toward God, and displayed it before the people when she said,
“Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me.” Ruth 1:21
Her name means “pleasant,” but she said her name should be called “bitter.” She couldn’t see the gospel truth of Christ and His redemption in the episodes to come. Since Christ had not yet come during her days, we can hardly blame her. Why? Because you and I often fail to give thanks for every situation and circumstance God’s providence brings us, even though Christ has already come and has saved us by His amazing and wonderful grace. We too often act as if God owes us something. We deserve hell, yet God has given His only Son to suffer, die, and shed His blood. We deserve eternal torments for sins we’ve committed against God, yet God the Father sent Jesus to endure His infinite, eternal, and unbridled wrath for sins Jesus did not commit, and die for a penalty Jesus did not deserve.
We owe God everything for the grace He has bestowed upon us by giving us life through the death and sufferings of His Son. When we consider how ungrateful we have been, and how often we have done so, it should be a witness to us of how much our sinful, selfish, and sad souls need the grace of God— and thus rejoice with thanksgiving because of God’s amazing grace.
When we declare (recount) to ourselves the truths of who Jesus is and what He has done by His death and resurrection (all your wonderful deeds), we will give thanks to the LORD with a whole heart. Let us, therefore,
give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:18
