“Praise the LORD! I will thank the LORD with all my heart as I meet with his godly people.” – Psalm 111:1

It is believed that Psalm 111 was written after the citizens of Judah had returned from captivity. When I read this Psalm recently, I was thinking about how thankful the people must have been to return to their homeland. After being in captivity, away from home, for many years – I can imagine the joy they had to return to Judah.

Yet I also looked at this from a different angle. What if they didn’t express their gratitude to God? When we have something good happen or when we have a breakthrough in some area, do we always thank God? Sometimes we do. But I wonder how many times we simply forget? We might have prayed for a certain situation, but then when we got what we wanted, we didn’t take the time to thank God. Or perhaps there are other situations where we sat in despair for so long that our hearts became bitter. When things finally changed for the better, maybe we still had a chip on our shoulder and we didn’t spare God a second glance.

It grieves me to think of times when I might have neglected to show God my gratitude. We have a loving Father who cares for our every need. While it’s true that not everything in life will go the way we want it to, it’s also true that God showers us with blessings every day. We have so much to be thankful for. And when things do not got the way we expected, we can be grateful to have a trustworthy God who had a reason for steering events in a different direction. He always has our best interest in mind. And He always works things together for good. As it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” We have to learn to trust Him and put our complete faith in Him. And when we do that, gratitude comes naturally.

Thanking God for His goodness, for the blessings in our lives, and for who He is, should be an important part of our Christian walk and our prayer life. Let us take a few minutes each day to sit down with God and offer a prayer of gratitude.

One more thing … Today is Veteran’s Day in the United States. So I wanted to say thank you to our veterans, including my father who served in the United States Army. Those of us who live in freedom do so because of others who made our freedom possible!

(Side note: Did anyone else notice that today is 11/11 and the chapter and verse referenced above were 111:1? I did not plan that, but it caught my attention!)

© 2021 Bridget A. Thomas