No thanksgiving today, please

 

Not today.

I'm not in the mood.

See, I don't feel very well.

My head is pounding and my heart is, too. I can hear my own pulse in my ears, and I even feel a little nauseated. I'm super tired, too, because I haven't been sleeping well.

No. No thanksgiving today. Try me tomorrow.

Today, I am depressed about the situation my child (or spouse, or neighbor, or prayer partner) finds themselves in. I can't fix it for them, even though I want to. Goodness knows, I have tried. I think I can even see the little dark cloud that is blocking the sunshine and following me around.

Oy vey. We don't typically volunteer to jump on the thanksgiving bandwagon, do we? We are so focused on ourselves . . . we need to realize that genuine thankfulness, like that in Psalm 33, is all wound up like a ball of string -- around a big center piece called TRUST. We can never truly thank God until we truly trust Him. That's how we get to have that grateful heart that David is showing in the psalm. We must recognize that we are dependent upon Him for all that we have.

Oh, and wait a minute. By nature, we are not trustful creatures. Am I right? We are creatures of necessity. Trust God? Oh, I've GOT this myself. Ummm, no. We typically trust God when we are forced to. When our problems are beyond our abilities. The rest of the time, we get along just fine by ourselves! Hey, we can solve this problem by ourselves . . . no need for prayer or for talking to and trusting God . . . we don't need to trust Him. We've got this. Oh, dear believer, it's only when we come to the end of our rope and cast ourselves in total dependence on the Lord that we even start to experience genuine praise.

This psalm was addressed to those who are "righteous ones" and to the "upright." In other words, it was written to those who know God personally. Those who are seeking to please Him by living obedient lives. So why do these people need to be exhorted to "sing for joy in the Lord"? Why encourage them to "give thanks" and "sing praises"?  Refer to the paragraph above to answer those questions. (Grin)  David sure had learned the lessons of this psalm. He had been in situations where every, single prop was knocked out from under him. He'd been forced to trust in God alone. 

And God had delivered him. And he had been overwhelmed with thankfulness and praise.

He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
    out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
    and gave me a firm place to stand. (Psalm 40:2)

Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
    and he delivered them from their distress. (Psalm 107:6)

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. (Hebrews 13:15)

The key to a thankful, worshiping heart is to trust and rely completely on the Lord. . . . as the kids say, "FROG!"  Fully Rely on God!!

But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (I Corinthians 15:57)