Psalm 9 is a really good chapter. Click on the link to go read. I'm only going to touch on the first 2 verses because there is so much there and then I'll move on to the next Psalm next time. Don't miss out on the rest! :o)
"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;"
With my whole heart! Not part of my heart. Not giving thanks while thinking about the other things that dominate your heart (hobbies, spouses, children, other loved ones, your career, etc.) but with your WHOLE heart.
With this, I want to mention that twice in the gospels we are challenged to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls (and I think one has body...not sure right now). So, your mind as well as your heart. So, not giving thanks to God while thinking about the game that is on, or the chores that need doing, or the errands you need to run, or the social upheaval on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc. Giving your whole mind and heart to God and then giving thanks to him.
Let's be honest, some people can do that while driving...maybe. I won't judge your heart and mind, but I can't focus 100% of my mind on my God when I'm driving. There are crazy people out there driving! So, it requires some quiet time. "But Nate, since I can give God all of my attention to pray and talk to him while doing other things like driving, and I don't have the time to spend with him alone, what is the problem?" The problem? The problem is that while you were still a sinner God demonstrated his love for you and Christ died for you....and you can only talk to him in a distracted context without being able to really focus on what you are doing? Your heart is being pulled or your mind is being pulled. Shame on us. Shame on me. I don't do this enough at all!
"I will recount all of your wonderful deeds."
Oh man. I love doing this and I don't do it enough. So, from a selfish angle, I could recount blessing after blessing that God provided through both of our adoption processes. That would take a VERY long time though. As a historian, I can look at the history of the church as see how God has blessed and preserved his Word so that million of people could know who God is and not have to wonder. On an even greater scale, look at our world. There are so many broken things about it. The world is affected by sin and YET! Look at some of the sunrise/sunset pictures on Facebook/Instagram lately. It's gorgeous. Look at the Hubble telescope pictures sometimes .It's amazing what is out there. The
"I will be glad and exult in you;"
Gladness and exulting in God. Really? When I lock my keys in the car at work? When I am on my way home and 4 police cars are blocking my road so I get home 20+ minutes later than normal? When my oldest is completely "off" due to going to be late and seeing our youngest daughter's birth mom at an unscheduled (but perfectly OK) time??? I am to be glad and exult in God?? YES! Yes I am. It's funny because ALL of those things happened today and it almost feels like God knew I was going to come home to type this to remind me to be exulting him instead of feeling cranky at the world! :o) Thankfully I'd already been working on this, but God really hammered it now!
"I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."
Do I praise the name of God? God Most High! There is no one who has ever been His equal or who will ever be His equal. How can I not praise Him?? Simple: I'm lazy and I'm ungrateful!! That's not who I want to be though, so I will take a minute to praise His name now and continue to work that into part of my life. The other part is that I don't know Him enough to praise His name. That IS something I can actively work on. It's called "getting to know my Heavenly Father" and it's something we should all do as close to daily as possible.
But not because we have to. Because we want to. Because we love Him (because He first loved us) and that makes us want to know Him. With the added benefit that the more we know Him, the more we will love Him. Then it just becomes a great cycle!
To God be the glory!!
"I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;"
With my whole heart! Not part of my heart. Not giving thanks while thinking about the other things that dominate your heart (hobbies, spouses, children, other loved ones, your career, etc.) but with your WHOLE heart.
With this, I want to mention that twice in the gospels we are challenged to love God with all our hearts, minds, and souls (and I think one has body...not sure right now). So, your mind as well as your heart. So, not giving thanks to God while thinking about the game that is on, or the chores that need doing, or the errands you need to run, or the social upheaval on Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/etc. Giving your whole mind and heart to God and then giving thanks to him.
Let's be honest, some people can do that while driving...maybe. I won't judge your heart and mind, but I can't focus 100% of my mind on my God when I'm driving. There are crazy people out there driving! So, it requires some quiet time. "But Nate, since I can give God all of my attention to pray and talk to him while doing other things like driving, and I don't have the time to spend with him alone, what is the problem?" The problem? The problem is that while you were still a sinner God demonstrated his love for you and Christ died for you....and you can only talk to him in a distracted context without being able to really focus on what you are doing? Your heart is being pulled or your mind is being pulled. Shame on us. Shame on me. I don't do this enough at all!
"I will recount all of your wonderful deeds."
Oh man. I love doing this and I don't do it enough. So, from a selfish angle, I could recount blessing after blessing that God provided through both of our adoption processes. That would take a VERY long time though. As a historian, I can look at the history of the church as see how God has blessed and preserved his Word so that million of people could know who God is and not have to wonder. On an even greater scale, look at our world. There are so many broken things about it. The world is affected by sin and YET! Look at some of the sunrise/sunset pictures on Facebook/Instagram lately. It's gorgeous. Look at the Hubble telescope pictures sometimes .It's amazing what is out there. The
"I will be glad and exult in you;"
Gladness and exulting in God. Really? When I lock my keys in the car at work? When I am on my way home and 4 police cars are blocking my road so I get home 20+ minutes later than normal? When my oldest is completely "off" due to going to be late and seeing our youngest daughter's birth mom at an unscheduled (but perfectly OK) time??? I am to be glad and exult in God?? YES! Yes I am. It's funny because ALL of those things happened today and it almost feels like God knew I was going to come home to type this to remind me to be exulting him instead of feeling cranky at the world! :o) Thankfully I'd already been working on this, but God really hammered it now!
"I will sing praise to your name, O Most High."
Do I praise the name of God? God Most High! There is no one who has ever been His equal or who will ever be His equal. How can I not praise Him?? Simple: I'm lazy and I'm ungrateful!! That's not who I want to be though, so I will take a minute to praise His name now and continue to work that into part of my life. The other part is that I don't know Him enough to praise His name. That IS something I can actively work on. It's called "getting to know my Heavenly Father" and it's something we should all do as close to daily as possible.
But not because we have to. Because we want to. Because we love Him (because He first loved us) and that makes us want to know Him. With the added benefit that the more we know Him, the more we will love Him. Then it just becomes a great cycle!
To God be the glory!!
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