Experiencing God's Presence #246

Those who sacrifice thank offerings honor me, and to the blameless I will show my salvation.

Psalm 50:23, NIV

Before Jesus fed multitudes with a few loaves of bread and some fish, He gave thanks. Before He raised Lazarus from the dead, He gave thanks. Even in consuming the bread and wine that symbolized His body and blood, He gave thanks. He was able to be grateful in advance because He had confidence in what God would do. And His gratitude prepared the way for God to step in.

Like worship, gratitude creates a highway for God to ride into our circumstances. It’s a relational attitude that prioritizes a focus on God over and above His benefits. It’s also a statement of faith, an acknowledgment that God is able and willing to intervene according to His promises. When we are confident in Him, He rewards our confidence with His solutions.

But giving thanks when our dreams, desires, and plans hang in the balance is hard to do. That’s because we aren’t sure how or even if God wants to intervene. We wonder what God is doing—if He wants to prolong our discomfort to teach us patience or faith, or if He’s working on some plan much bigger than our own situation that we don’t know about, or if His mysterious ways are simply beyond us. In such cases, gratitude almost seems presumptuous. But that’s only when our gratitude is contingent on one particular outcome rather than on God’s goodness in general. When we anticipate His goodness in one way or another, even if we can’t predict the outcome, gratitude is appropriate. When we give it, He responds with both His Presence and His solutions.

Thank You, Father. I don’t know how You want to intervene in my circumstances today, but I know I can expect goodness from You. I’m grateful for the certainty of all Your promises and for the assurance of Your Presence.

From the book