Devotions: Thankful Thursday

 

I will give You thanks forever, because You have done it,
And I will wait on Your name, for it is good, in the presence of Your godly ones.

Psalm 52:9 New American Standard Bible 1995

 

What has God done? How has He helped you? This is the key to gratitude and praise. If we are not aware of what has been done how can we be grateful for it? And if we are not grateful, why would we praise? God has done so much. If we actually stopped to list everything He has given us (and I mean everything)…well we wouldn’t have time in this life. Everything good is a gift from God: every breath, every drop of water, every friend, every flower, every meal. The list is as infinite as He is. We need to regularly recount, remind ourselves what He has done for us. As I said this helps with praise and gratitude, but also with trust. Waiting on God’s name means trusting Him. The word literally means to hope for or expect. We need to hope in God, expect Him to do great things, and wait for Him to do them. We know that we can do this because His name is good. He is not cruel, stingy or indifferent. We know we can trust Him because of all that He has already done. He has helped us before, He has worked miracles, so we can expect Him to do it again. It is important however that we wait on His name, not His outcomes. We need to go to Him with what we need and then leave the results up to Him. If we expect what we want to happen then we will likely be disappointed. God rarely works how we want Him to, but He always works better than we could plan. It is also important, not only to remind ourselves of what God has done, but also to tell others of what He has done. Periodically, my church will have time for “testimonies” or praise reports, stories of what God has done. It not only strengthens our faith but also that of others. And it may be exactly what someone else needed to hear. Maybe they are going through that exact problem and need to know that God can make good come from it. We suffer not just so that we can become stronger, but also so that we can in turn comfort others.

I ask again, what has God done for you? How has He helped you? Take this Thankful Thursday to tell others of His works and miracles in your life!

 

 

To view a video of this devo, visit my facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/evelynbray.author

To receive these devotions daily, like my page or subscribe to my blog by entering your email in the subscription box to the right!