Cultivating A Thankful Heart

Cultivating a Thankful Heart….

Psalm 92, is a song of unmistakable praise and thanksgiving unto the Lord God (Ps. 113). It wonderfully celebrates the Person and work of God in a most energetic fashion. In verses one through four, it encourages our spirits to respond to God in praise and worship. As a result, we are challenged to: 1) Cultivate a persistent outlook of thankfulness; 2) Celebrate the wisdom of Jehovah God in worship enlivened with exuberant thanks; 3) Reflect often on the awe inspiring achievements of God in order to sustain a spirit of gratitude. As such, this Psalm can greatly advance our efforts to develop a thankful character.

Psalm 92, is timely counsel because it seems we are naturally inclined to solicit, expect, require, and even demand the good we feel we are entitled to or deserve. People routinely speak in terms of "getting what they deserve." Our culture has been inundated with an entitlement mentality. Everyone has a rights to this, that, and the other; however, precious few understand responsibility. Self-reliance is a dirty word and genuine appreciation has been lost along the way! With privilege comes responsibility, and the more we are privileged, the more gratitude is required of us.

We are also prone to take the numerous blessings we enjoy for granted. One trip to an under developed country will do wonders for our arrogant materialistic ingratitude. Every time I am afforded the opportunity to walk on the foreign soils of a "second" or "third" world country I am struck anew with the reality that God has been extremely good to the USA. Even after serving in several locations in Europe gratitude wells up in my soul because I have been reminded of how God has blessed our country.

In fact, often we do not even think about how privileged we truly are until we lose those benefits and opportunities! I am ashamed to admit that my sense of gratitude deepened only after I saw someone without the common gifts I tend to take for granted.  While living in Germany, I saw an article in the Stars and Stripes newspaper with a picture of a brave Marine and his good wife. This young man was being discharged after a period of special care and therapy. You see he owns a Purple Heart medal because of injuries he sustained while serving the interests of our country in Afghanistan. He is a triple amputee. The photo portrayed him in his wheelchair with his wife carrying both of his prosthetic legs. The photo was taken as they exited the main entrance/exit doors while leaving the hospital. My first glance at the image on the page stunned and gripped me. Emotions welled up inside me, that I still have difficulty explaining. Unbelief, shock, anger, frustration, surprise, sorrow, and yes pulsating shame. All of these emotions flooded my mind at once and literally overwhelmed me. I was moved; I also immediately felt shame for my complaining, grumbling, and other 'natural' expressions of annoyance at the least discomfort or irritation. "Dear God," I squirmed, "please forgive my hardened and ungrateful heart of pride—my gross overestimation of my value and worth!" Then the Lord, in His graciousness, later whispered to me, “Look at all the goodness I afford you Wayne...and you habitually take them for granted as if you actually deserve them.” "You even get angry and cross with Me because I do not do for you what you think I should," The Almighty continued. I was embarrassed before God about my attitude and insensitivity. I did not even realize how I was violently mistreating Him! In those sobering moments, I realized that being appreciative was a real grave need in my heart. "Something must be done...it is sin to continue like this..." I thought. Thankfulness and gratitude... I must cultivate an attitude of gratitude that marks me every day of life. The question for me was how. How do I become a person marked by godly gratitude?

While God initially used Psalm 92, I was soon reminded that gratitude is one evidence of a Spirit-filled Believer. This was a little embarrassing to recognize because I thought I knew this already (Eph. 5:18-21). However, knowing the truth and living the truth are poles apart! Make no mistake about it; an attitude of gratitude desperately needed to be cultivated in my heart. This would transpire primarily through reflecting on the natural goodness of Jehovah God. You see, we must sow seeds of truth in our minds in order to grow a garden of gratitude. We can intentionally plant truths related to God's goodness, mercy, grace, faithfulness, wisdom, power, and love. We first thank Him for these realities about His glorious Person, and we can recount specific instances where these qualities appeared in Scripture. His wisdom, power, and grace can be seen in Genesis chapters one and two—the creation account. His goodness, love, and mercy are evidenced in Genesis chapter three—the record of The Fall of Man. We sow these seeds in our minds by reflecting on the character and nature of God Himself as revealed in the Word. When we think about and 'define' Him, it is with these truths revealed in the Word. We discard wrong concepts of God and continue to construct correct concepts of Him from the Word. Even when life hurts most, we consciously chose to believe the Word's portrayal of God instead of our interpretations of Him through our pains and struggles. Because He is always good, we have cause to be thankful and to express thanks unto Him. Yes, rain helps a garden of gratitude to grow most beautifully!

Closely related to celebrating God's natural goodness is the need to recount His kind generosities towards us and our love ones. This involves counting our blessings and benefits of salvation, service, sanctification, strength, supply, and even struggles (2 Thess. 2:13, 14). Sometimes God teaches us thankfulness through reverses, setbacks, loses, pain, and trials. If it were not for some of these painful experiences, we would go right on taking His grand goodness toward us for granted. Taking God’s goodness for granted while demanding more of His bounty is that awful form of gross ingratitude that characterizes too many of us. To develop such a prideful attitude requires no work at all, but genuine thankfulness must be learned. We must sow the seeds of truth in the soil of our soul in order to bring forth the fruits of gratitude. Yes, I am convinced the focus of our thankful reflections should be upon God and His goodness. A good long look at the thankfulness of the Lord Jesus is a grand encouragement as well (Matt. 11:25, 26; John 11:41). Who else could inspire greater gratitude in the human heart than the Lord? This is the God who “so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son [Jesus], that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

When we begin to see His goodness in all aspects of our lives, we will begin to recognize with appreciation the goodnesses of others in our lives as well. Why...we might even find ourselves saying "thank you" far more often (Phil. 4:10-19). Those around us and closest to us will begin to see that we know something about the goodness and gracious character of Almighty God, and that we have rightly assessed His graciousness in our personal experiences. So, begin today to cultivate a heart and spirit of gratitude. Sow some seeds of truth about God's goodness and His goodness towards you. Allow these to grow into genuine expressions of appreciation. Cultivate these by the grace of God when the rains of life come. Nurture the growth of thanksgiving deep within and it will bloom into wonderful and exuberant bursts of appreciation in a life distinctly marked  with gratitude. Kill the weeds of complaining and fuming about every little thing! By the grace of the Spirit of God bear the fruit of thanks toward God and your fellow man. Indeed, “it is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD” (Ps. 92:1).