Thankful, Day Seventy-Six

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

I'm shouting to the LORD this morning...not some impersonal deity far removed from my situation, but a personal savior who is intimately involved in my life. He looks down upon me with eyes of compassion and loves me out of a limitless heart. He speaks to me with the voice of a Father, and touches me with His gentle hands. He works within me to make me a better man, a man in His own image and likeness, and He works around me to make all things good. He knows my name, He has numbered my days, He's got all my words written down in His books. He hears my thoughts, knows my heart, listens to my prayers, and works through the power of the Holy Spirit living inside me to accomplish His purposes for my life.

Now those are reasons to shout, right there!

Today, I'm thankful because God won't leave me alone. He's personally involved and invested in my life, and He's not about to leave me to my own devices. He keeps calling me to Him, drawing me closer so that He can reveal more of Himself to me. He never leaves, nor forsakes. He never abandons me, nor goes away. He is with me, He is in me, and He is for me.

I'm thankful because God knows everything I have need of, and He will provide. He supplies all of my need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He gives me everything I need for life and for godliness. He's never let me down, never let me go under, and He's not about to start now.

I'm thankful because God knows everything about me, and He loves me in spite of it. Sometimes I'm lovable, but other times I'm certain I am unlovely, unloving, and unlovable by human standards. But God loves me anyway. He loves me just as I am; but He loves me too much to leave me that way.