Some of us were taught as
children to pray—
“God is great. God is good. Let
us thank Him for our food.”
There is much wisdom in that
simple prayer.
Praying thanksgiving is a key
means of knowing God and communicating with God. But thanksgiving is more than
superficially saying, “Thank you”.
Most of us were also taught as
children the obligation of giving thanks. Aunt Susie gives you a birthday
present and even if it was officially weird, your mother would ask you, “What
do you say?” with an expectation of hearing you utter the magic words.
If we do an obligatory
statement of appreciation to God we risk missing the experience of knowing Him.
Go back to the “child’s” prayer above. Is God really great? Is God really good?
How do you know?
When our thanksgiving is
birthed out of awe we have a keen sense of His presence, the fullness of His
Person, and in contrast the unworthiness of our receiving benefits or favor
from God.
But we live in an “awe-killing”
world. The recent movie on Moses went to great lengths to give naturalistic
explanations for awesome works of God. We take for granted the awesome splendor
of snow-capped mountains, powerful rushing rivers and the stunning beauty of
sunsets.
If God is Creator then we learn
something of Him when we examine and reflect on creation. God is an artist who
loves beauty and shares the joy of His artistry with His friends. And if we
notice God’s handiwork we’ve just been nudged by His Spirit to take it in.
When I drive across the
floating bridge and squint because the sun is glimmering over Lake Washington
with a majestic Mt. Rainier in the backdrop I have to whisper, “Thank you God
for letting me live in the Northwest and having eyes to behold this sight and a
heart that is alive to Your activity around me.”
In that prayer/conversation I’m
not just communicating with God; I’m communing with God; I’m enjoying God; I’m
celebrating God. And the marvelous outcome of praying thanksgiving is that the
more I do, the more I know and experience God.
In this day, let us practice
noticing God, acknowledging God and responding to God with praise and
thanksgiving.
1 comment:
you made me think. Why do I think the mountains are beautiful? What brings that out when I see what I perceive is this awesome vision. Then I think... Well, I was made in God's image so He must think His creation is beautiful and thus, so do I.
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