Thank You, from the Bottom of My Heart

I am sure all of us, at one time or another, have felt and expressed thanks from the bottom of our hearts. Someone did something for us that absolutely overwhelmed us. “Thanks” really did not seem enough to say, did it? At times like that, you almost feel embarrassed that it’s all you can say or do.

In Psalm 54, David says, “Thank you” to God. Time and again we have expressed our appreciation in this blog for God’s care of us. We need Him to get through this life and none of us would argue with that. David says, “Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is the sustainer of my soul. He will recompense the evil to my foes; destroy them in Your faithfulness. Willingly I will sacrifice to You; I will give thanks to Your name, O Lord, for it is good” (Psalm 54:4-6).

Truly, the Lord is the “Sustainer” of our souls. If you are like me, you cannot count the times you needed His help to get you through a tough time. There have been enemies that have stood over against us, whom God has defeated and we were able to make it through. Yes, He is definitely our Helper. We ought to echo David and willingly sacrifice to Him, which means worship Him. We ought to be happy to give thanks to His name, for it is indeed good.

It is definitely a comfort to know that God is always on hand when we need Him. However, what I would really like us to think about today, and this week, is how much we need to show Him our appreciation. No, He doesn’t need our appreciation because He doesn’t need anything from us to sustain Him (Acts 17:25). We are the ones who need to appreciate Him. We do not want to run the risk of taking Him for granted, as though He owed us anything. We owe Him, and we owe Him everything!!

It has been my prayer from the beginning of Barnabas Notes that something that was said in these short comments would lift someone’s spirit or ease someone’s pain. However, I want you to understand that all comfort comes from God. He it is Who deserves our appreciation for the encouragement that comes through this newsletter or the words of encouragement you give back to me in your kind comments. He is the Source of all good things.

Notice these words from David: Teach me Your way, O Lord; I will walk in Your truth; unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and will glorify Your name forever. For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol (Psalm 86:11-13). In order to properly appreciate God for what He has done for us and thank Him, we need His help in order to walk in His truth and fear His name. That means, of course, to live a faithful, Christian life before our Lord. For anyone to say they love Him and thank Him for the grace He has offered and then not to obey His commands or live a life pleasing to Him, is to be ungrateful to the extreme.

I want this thought on your heart. God loves you and has delivered you from more things than you probably even know. The fact that you are alive right now testifies to His deliverance. Show Him how much you appreciate His watchful care, His grace and His love. Give yourself fully to Him in faith and obedience. Know, really deep down, that He loves you and so do I.