Thankful, Day Fifty-Nine

Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands!

Serve the Lord with gladness;

Come before His presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, He is God;

It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;

We are His people, and the sheep of His pasture.

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving,

And into His courts with praise.

Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.

For the Lord is good;

His mercy is everlasting,

And His truth endures to all generations.

Psalm 100, NKJV

The thought occurred to me today that this little exercise is on the downhill stretch, and then I wondered what I'm going to do when my hundred days of thanks are over. It has really revolutionized my day-to-day existence. Typing the 100th Psalm from memory every day is like slipping into my favorite pair of shoes. And each day there is just so much more to be thankful for. I'm not promoting some new pattern or model for every Christian to follow...but I'm telling you now. Intentionally and deliberately giving thanks every day is a wonderful, wonderful discipline to develop.

And how funny (a personal inner kind of humor that I cannot share at this time, so just sit over there and be curious) it is that today, of all days, the action I have arrived at is SERVE.

Serve the Lord with gladness, it says. So why do so many people serve the Lord begrudgingly? Why do so many people say, "Well, God wants me to do this, but that doesn't mean I have to be happy about it!" Think I'm joking? Try pastoring a church. You'll see what I'm talking about. In my opinion, the most miserable people in the world are those who won't serve the Lord with gladness. They are convinced that God doesn't want them to be happy, so either they are resisting His will, or they are half-heartedly obeying while griping about it all the time. "I can't believe God is making me do this!"

I have to admit; I've had my own moments. There have been a few times in my life--okay, more than a few--when I have looked desperately upward and said, "God, are you sure this is what you want from me. Are you sure this is how it has to be?" It's easy to serve God with a smile when things are easy, when things are going the way they are supposed to go, when the results are what you expect. Like the words of the old song:

I'm living on the mountain underneath a cloudless sky

I'm feasting on the manna from a bountiful supply

O yes I'm drinking from a fountain that never shall run dry

I'm dwelling in Beulah Land!

It's easy to serve the Lord with gladness when you're living there. But what about when you walk through the valley of the shadow of death and have evil threatening you on every side? What about when you journey the hard road alone, sowing in tears and suffering from heartache and defeat? What about when none of your dreams have come true, when none of your seed has yielded fruit, when none of your efforts have produced any results? Can you serve the Lord with gladness then?

And many times, we say to the Lord: I'll serve you with gladness as long as you'll leave me here, and not send me there. I'll serve you with gladness as long as you bless me with this, and don't let me suffer through that. I'll serve you with gladness as long as...and we put conditions on the gladness with which we serve the Lord. But God doesn't want our conditions; He wants our commitment. He doesn't want our demands; He wants our devotion. He doesn't want our requirements; He wants a relationship.

So I ask myself today: Am I serving the Lord with gladness? Some days it's easy; some days it takes effort. But on all days, I choose to serve Him with a smile.

Today, I'm thankful to be in the service of the Lord, and not some other taskmaster. It's a cruel, cold world we live in, and its demands on us are brutal. The devil is only out for my destruction. And sin takes me further than I want to go, keeps me longer than I want to stay, and costs much more than I am willing to pay. On the other hand, serving the Lord is full of blessing and riches in this life, and so much more in the one to come.

I'm thankful to be serving the Lord where I am. Preaching is my joy, and pastoring is my delight. I love my people, my church, and my community. I love where I am at, although for a long time I wondered why I was even here. But I'm glad to be here!

I'm thankful that the Lord has seen fit to use me in His service, and that He continues to give me inspiration and direction for what He wants me to do. I'm ready and willing to do anything, to go anywhere, because I know that wherever He leads, it will be good.

Thank you Lord, for letting me be on your team! I'm really happy to serve.