Heart of thanksgiving

DEVOTION

PSALMS

HEART OF THANKSGIVING

Ps 69:30-36

30 I will praise God's name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving. 31 This will please the LORD more than an ox, more than a bull with its horns and hoofs. 32 The poor will see and be glad — you who seek God, may your hearts live! 33 The LORD hears the needy and does not despise his captive people. 34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them, 35 for God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah. Then people will settle there and possess it; 36 the children of his servants will inherit it, and those who love his name will dwell there.

NIV

We have finally arrived at the point in this song, after much lamenting about suffering, that the psalmist figures out it is about giving praise to God no matter of the situation in life he finds himself. He makes the right decision as to what will please the Lord. Here we see that God is glorified with thanksgiving. He is telling the fact that a heart of thanksgiving pleases God more than any sacrifice of animals. Although this is the Old Testament in the times of huge amounts of sacrifices brought to the temple every day to be cut up and burnt as an offering for some sin, here we see God is more interested in a heart of thanksgiving. Surely the rich can bring sacrifice after sacrifice for those sins of life they keep doing. The poor cannot afford to offer that much, so how do they get forgiveness? Maybe they can offer on lamb, but maybe they do not have a herd of sheep. They are the poor, the needy, what can they offer. The psalmist says they too can offer a heart of thanksgiving which would please the Lord. God spoke through the prophet Isiah regarding having enough of the blood and guts.

Isa 1:11-13

1 "The multitude of your sacrifices — what are they to me?" says the LORD. "I have more than enough of burnt offerings, of rams and the fat of fattened animals; I have no pleasure in the blood of bulls and lambs and goats. 12 When you come to appear before me, who has asked this of you, this trampling of my courts? 13 Stop bringing meaningless offerings! Your incense is detestable to me.

NIV

Meaningless offering if we continue with the rant of God against his people about offerings that are meaningless because they mean nothing to them, they just keep going about the practices of the world they live in, celebrating the new moon, Sabbath and  convocations or calling out to assembly to such feasts. But a heart of thanksgiving is totally a horse of a different color. This is a lesson we can learn as well. We can do all the right things, attend church every Sunday, being faithful to bring our tithe and offerings. We can stand and mouth the words of some worship type song, reading the words of a screen, we might even sway a little or tap our toe keeping in time with the song. We can serve on some committee, or go about doing some good deeds, acting all Christian like. But do we come to God with a heart filled with thanksgiving, overwhelmed with praise for him because he is God, no other reason. Although we certainly have more than enough reasons to have a heart filled with thanksgiving. Even in those difficult moments of life, we are assured we have the peace of God in our lives, we have eternal life in his presence forevermore. But we also have the joy of the Lord in this life because we are filled with the Holy Spirit who brings us all the truth of God. He brings his gifts into our life. He brings his own fruit to bear in our life. He brings that love, joy, peace, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, patience and yes even self-control for us to bear so others can pick them or be satisfied from by our lives as the Spirit works. We can have a heart of thanksgiving because we know God loves us, and that Jesus is there at his right had ever interceding on our behalf. Because of this reason, God has in fact declared us holy and blameless in his sight. What more do we need to be overflowing with a heart of thanksgiving? Let us rejoice and be glad, and offer God our heart of praise and thanksgiving and that will please him more than anything else we could possibly do as far as works are concerned.