30 Days of Gratitude: Day 3

Another day, another chance to thank the one who gives us life and the air we breathe. How many times do we stop and thank God for who He is? We could ask how often we stop and thank God. Period. The God we serve is the God of Goodness to mankind.

Thank God for who He is. Psalm 95:1-7, "Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the Lord is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship,    let us kneel before the Lord our Maker; for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care." Because of who God is, we should be praising and shouting with gladness and joy. One can make an argument for times when there should be reflective, or maybe even mellow, moods for worship; however, that is not supposed to be the prevailing tone when we are gathered to praise his name. To worship God to the best of our ability, we need to understand God and who he is! Think of someone or something you are in awe of. Perhaps it is something that took your breath away and left you so amazed you couldn't truly describe the circumstance in a way that did it justice. How we think of God and how we worship God should be like that, but MORE. We should hold God so high that we embrace that he is indescribable. Yahweh is the great God and the King above all gods.

In today's world, as the ancient Hebrews did, we have a choice of gods to worship. In fact, without realizing it, we become a god for others to worship. We are often so engrossed in the things of the world that we forget who made it all, and made it with free will, so we weren't forced into a relationship, but it would be by our choice. What would happen if we made a deliberate stance and proudly confessed in front of anyone and everyone that I belong to Yahweh? Yahweh is my God. He is my shepherd and I am part of his flock. Deuteronomy 7:9 says," Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments."

Isaiah 40:28-29 says, "Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God,  the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak."David Guzik wrote, "The people asked this question in Isaiah 40:21 doubted there was a God who created all. The ones asked the same question in this verse seem to know there is a creator, but live as practical atheists. They don’t seem to understand that the fact there is a God of all creation makes a difference in everyday life." Isaiah explains to them who God is. He tells them God will provide great power and strength; however, we need to realize who God is really giving this to. He isn't looking for the well off. He is looking for the warriors or those at the top of the food chain. God is looking for the weak. When we think about how God provides strength, He doesn't do it to those just sitting around and waiting for it to happen. He wants an active partnership, for us to seek Him in all that we do. We are to rely on Him instead of our own strength.

"In the beginning was The Word, and The Word was with God, and The Word was God. He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. " John 1:1-5

Let us give thanks for who God is and all he has done!