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
Even though the words seem plain enough, I just looked up thankful and bless to see their meaning in the original Hebrew. It's interesting that the first can mean cast down and the second can mean kneel down. Immediately, I was reminded of the heavenly imagery from Revelation 4 & 5 where, as the angels sing Holy Holy Holy Lord God Almighty, the elders fall on their faces and throw down their crowns before the presence of God.
As always, the kind of worship encouraged and demonstrated in this Psalm is the active kind. Praise and giving thanks mean more than giving God lip service; it's about action. It's about actually doing something in honor of God.
When was the last time you fell down in worship to the Lord? I'm not talking about any mystical experience like being "slain in the Spirit". I mean, when was the last time you voluntarily prostrated yourself in the presence of God and just worshiped Him for all that He is and all that He has done?
And when was the last time you really threw your praise down to God? Another meaning of being thankful is to shoot upward. So when was the last time we shot our praise like an arrow in the direction of God?
To bless His name is to give Him praise, to honor Him, to bring glory to Him, to make His name excellent with our words and works. This is how the Bible instructs us to give thanks!
Today, I'm thankful for the bounty with which God has blessed me. I've got more stuff than any one person needs, which is also why I've been getting rid of alot of stuff...either selling it to put the funds to good use, or giving it away as a blessing to someone else. At a time when so many are in desperate need, I'm thankful for the God who has supplied all of mine.
I'm thankful for the strength God has given me in my body, the ability to do the things which need to be done. There are lots of people who can't get around very well, who can't walk, who can't lift and carry heavy loads; I can, and to date I've never been seriously injured doing anything that needed to be done. Even when I am weak, He is strong.
I'm thankful for the help that God provides in the form of people, such as the ones who are going to help me tomorrow in my move. Even my mother is coming in to help me do this thing. I could do it by myself, but I'm thankful that I don't have to.
What are you thankful for today?
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