Thankful, Day Seventy-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

Well, I seem to have missed a few days blogging. With good reason, I assure you. But I will also assure you that I continued to be thankful, even without blogging. This Thankful theme has really gotten into my spirit, and I'm thankful for that!

Last week I was thinking about the covenant Name of God, that which we know as Yahweh but which has also been brought into our language in the form of Jehovah. It is the YHWH breath of Hebrew, the I AM. And in our Bibles it has been rendered LORD. I shout to Him, and I'm glad to be serving Him. I'm glad to be able to enter His presence. But I am so very thankful that it is YHWH who is God, and not some of these others we've heard about.

I'm glad the God I know isn't like Zeus or one of the other ancient pagan deities, sneaking around deceiving and seducing women and leaving his half-breed offspring for us to deal with as heroes and tyrants.

I'm glad the God I know isn't like Molech, the fiery god of some of the ancient Moabites and other Canaanite peoples that required his followers to offer their own children as sacrifices in the fires of his iron belly.

I'm glad the God I know isn't like those gods of Japan that have to be bought off with money to keep them from cursing you.

I'm glad the God I know isn't like the Aztec and Mayan gods which constantly had to appeased with human sacrifice.

I'm glad the God I know isn't like Allah, calling for me to give my life in killing others so that I can have a better eternal life.

I'm glad the God I know is gracious and compassionate, rich in mercy and abounding in love. I'm glad the God I know is altogether lovely and infinitely good, great and greatly to be praised. I'm glad the God I know looks down on me with favor and enriches my life with many wonderful blessings. I'm glad the God I know didn't require me to give my own life to atone for my sins, or even the sins of others, but rather He came in the flesh and died for me! I'm glad the God I know can't be bribed or bought, but rather bestows His salvation freely to anyone who will accept it. I'm glad the God I know isn't silent, and is never asleep. I'm glad the God I know is truly omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He can do anything, and everything He does, He does so well! I'm glad He's a personal God, not vindictive or looking for ways to get me, but has done everything He can to help me.

That's the God I'm glad is God today, and not some other vicious, almost-human, home wrecking, life destroying sovereign. And I'm also glad that I'm not God; and that you aren't either. We would surely make the wrong decisions. But He never does.

God, I'm thankful for Your love today, which you poured out in our lives through your Holy Spirit and demonstrated so limitlessly through your own sacrifice of your only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him would not perish, but would have eternal life.

God, I'm thankful for Your constant forgiveness, and your mercies that are new every morning, because I need them both to make it through the day. I'm so glad that you made your forgiveness available to me whenever I am in need, whenever I call on you, whenever I confess my faults and failures...you are faithful and fair, and you do forgive.

God, I'm thankful for Your wonderful blessings that you continue to bestow upon me, which come in a variety of wonderful ways. I hope you know that I truly appreciate everything you have done to me, and everything you will continue to do!