Choosing Thankfulness
There are days when thankfulness does not come easily. From daily frustrations and stressors, to pondering on problems that affect the world as a whole, we can be quickly weighed down. It is then I am reminded that thankfulness is not simply a feeling I can express, it is an action I can choose to consciously carry out. The Psalms offer wonderful reminders to seek the Lord and choose to be confident and grateful in who God is no matter the circumstances. One of the Psalmists was the Levite Asaph. Asaph was a musician whom King David appointed to lead worship. While reading Asaph’s Psalms, I see a pattern of thought in his words—a theme about seeking the Lord in everything.
In Psalm 73, Asaph confesses his feelings of envy toward the wicked around him. From verses 3-12, Asaph speaks on how the wicked around him (through his eyes) do not experience struggle, or pain, like others do. The wicked are prideful, wealthy, and their speech is malicious, yet live an easy life. Asaph writes that they live as if they could get away with anything, as if God would never know their thoughts and actions.
In verse 13, I imagine a frustrated Asaph writing about how he tries to keep his heart clean and follow in God’s commands, yet is still troubled.
Verse 16 changes the tone of the psalm. It is as if a weary Asaph took a breath. “But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God…” The reminder is to seek the Lord for wisdom and comfort. Asaph chose to lay down his frustrations at the Lord’s feet and remember who God is to him. In verse 26 he writes, “My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” The reminder and encouragement is that God is strength, God is a refuge, God has blessed His people in the past and He will do so again. Let us be thankful for a steadfast loving God!
Similarly in Psalm 77, Asaph confesses his troubled thoughts in verses 7-8, “Will the Lord spurn forever and never again be favorable? Has his steadfast love forever ceased? Are his promises at an end for all time?” Again, Asaph stops and seeks the Lord in verse 10. “Then I said, ‘I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old.” Seeking the Lord changed his thoughts to thankfulness at the works of God and the love for His people, as written in verse 15, “You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.” and in verse 20, “You led your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.” Asaph turns his thoughts to the times God was faithful and rescued his people, invoking images of a caring parent to his children and a caring shepherd to his flock.
Even as the Psalms begin with petitions of help and confessions of frustration, they end with a focus on God and thankfulness for Him.
I pray that in this time of celebrating Thanksgiving, I take a breath and seek the Lord. I pray that in turning my eyes to God, I will respond with thankfulness for who God is and what He has done, and what He will do. May you be able to also share in cultivating a heart of thankfulness this week.