LEARNING DAILY

 

Psalm 33:1,4,5: Rejoice in the Lord, O you righteous! For praise from the upright is beautiful. For the word of the Lord is right, and His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.

 

In the last page of the blog, the thought was written that thankfulness comes when one trusts in God. That trust comes when one understands the sovereignty of the Lord in creation and in history (His-story). Trust is an interesting word.  It means to “believe in the reliability, truth, ability, or strength” of someone or something. Today to “trust” someone too quickly could lead to terrible consequences. For example, don’t open that email if you do not know the sender because it could give someone access to everything on your computer. Or how often do you hear about one paying for work before it was completed only to find the worker has skipped out on the work. 

 

It seems that people do not trust God easily because they think they can get along just fine by themselves. They only trust God when they are forced to. I read this thought: “If we can solve the problem ourselves, we don’t resort to prayer and trusting God, because we don’t need to trust Him. But its only when we come to the end of ourselves and cast our total dependance on the Lord that we begin to experience genuine praise and thanksgiving.” Do you relate to that?

 

Notice that Psalm 33 was written to the righteous, the upright. In other words, it is written to those who know the Lord as their Savior and are trying to please Him as they try to be obedient and walk on the narrow way to His eternal kingdom. But even the righteous need to be encouraged “rejoice in the Lord” and “give praises to the Lord” and “sing to Him a new song” (verse 2). Read all of Psalm 33 today.  God is exalted by the Psalmist because of His creative work, His counsel, because He does not need man’s help in anything and He works through those who fear Him and place their hope in His mercy.

 

Reread the verses above. Being thankful and being able to worship are found in our trust of the Lord. It comes when we realize that He does for you what you cannot do for yourself. I overflow with thanksgiving and praise when I realize I was in desperate need of a Savior, One who has never given up on me when I have given many reasons to do so.

 

Matthew Henry’s Commentary comments on verse 5 this way: “What a pity it is that this earth, which is so full of God’s goodness, should be empty of His praises, and that of the multitudes that live on His bounty there are so few that live to His glory.”  Let that not be said of His “righteous ones” this Thanksgiving season.  As I read this morning in my friend’s (D.C. Adkisson) devotional, everyday should be a day we give thanks for everything God provides for us. As we place ourselves in God’s hands, trusting Him for what each day brings, let the righteous rejoice! He is a good God, an awesome God who can be trusted in all things and then thanksgiving and praise will arise!

 

May each of you have a very blessed Thanksgiving!