Being thankful without "ginning it up" artifically. - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Colossians 3:15,

"And be thankful."

As Paul provides his readers with those dispositions of heart that should accompany their relationship with the Lord, he tells them to "be thankful." In the following verse he encourages them to sing "to God with gratitude in your hearts."

Thankfulness and gratitude are of those things that simply cannot be "ginned up" artificially in our hearts. While we can pray when we don't feel like it, while we can spend time in God's word when we may not feel like it, while we may share the gospel with someone when our heart may not be fully in it (for whatever reason), thankfulness and gratitude are matters of the heart that simply cannot be carried out by a felt duty to God to do so as other things might be. Thankfulness and gratitude can only be manifested by a genuine disposition of heart.

What is shocking is that any child of God might need the exhortation to be thankful and manifest a heart of gratitude. I have to be honest here, there are those days I don't give a thought to the disposition of my heart toward God relative to thankfulness and gratitude. It just doesn't register. However, other days, my heart is brimming with thankfulness and gratitude. I suspect you may experience the same - or, is it just me? 

How can it be that we have any day where our hearts are not full of thankfulness and gratitude toward the Lord? I am certain if we were to mull over, "ruminate", focus, meditate, ponder, just simply think on the wonderful things God has done, we would never need an exhortation to be thankful with gratitude in our hearts for the Lord.

Here are three verses from Psalms that speak of pondering the things of the Lord:

"All people will fear; they will proclaim the works of God and ponder what he has done. The righteous will rejoice in the Lord and take refuge in him; all the upright in heart will glory in him!" Psalm 64:9-10

"The upright see and rejoice, but all the wicked shut their mouths. Let the one who is wise heed these things and ponder the loving deeds of the Lord." Psalm 107:42-43.

"I will extol the Lord with all my heart in the council of the upright and in the assembly. Great are the works of the Lord; they are pondered by all who delight in them. Glorious and majestic are his deeds, and his righteousness endures forever. He has caused his wonders to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and compassionate." Psalm 111:1-4.

In these passages we see that those who fear the Lord ponder the things he has done. The righteous and the upright are mentioned. The wise and those who delight in the great "works of the Lord" ponder on his "glorious and majestic" deeds. What deeds might you ponder on today? Here are just a few that come to my mind:

The Lord has sent his Holy Spirit to us, to dwell within us as a companion and counselor.

The Lord has freed us from the domination of the sinful nature in our lives.

The Lord has provided us wonderful and gifted brothers and sisters to encourage us and provide us what we need when we need it.

The Lord was "pierced for our transgressions and crushed for our inequities" that we be forgiven them.

The Lord has provided us a wonderful future in eternal life!

What would you add to this list? Are these things you may be interested in pondering on today or tomorrow? Surely there are many things we can ponder, meditate on, ruminate on that will bring genuine thankfulness and gratitude within our hearts. 

We are told the wise do so!

 

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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Trevor Fisk

trevor.fisk@gmail.com