Psalm 145

A Psalm of Praise, of David.

    1 I will extol You, my God, O King,
         And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
    2 Every day I will bless You,
         And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
    3 Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised,
         And His greatness is unsearchable.
    4 One generation shall praise Your works to another,
         And shall declare Your mighty acts.
    5 On the glorious splendor of Your majesty
         And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
    6 Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,
         And I will tell of Your greatness.
    7 They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness
         And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
    8 The LORD is gracious and merciful;
         Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
    9 The LORD is good to all,
         And His mercies are over all His works.
    10 All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD,
         And Your godly ones shall bless You.
    11 They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
         And talk of Your power;
    12 To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts
         And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
    13 Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
         And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
    14 The LORD sustains all who fall
         And raises up all who are bowed down.
    15 The eyes of all look to You,
         And You give them their food in due time.
    16 You open Your hand
         And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
    17 The LORD is righteous in all His ways
         And kind in all His deeds.
    18 The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
         To all who call upon Him in truth.
    19 He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
         He will also hear their cry and will save them.
    20 The LORD keeps all who love Him,
         But all the wicked He will destroy.
    21 My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD,
         And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

I was reading my Bible yesterday over lunch and read this amazing Psalm and I thought it was awesome and I wanted to pass it on.  Thanks be to God!

We here in the US recently celebrated Thanksgiving.  It is a great holiday, one of my faves, marked by copious amounts of delicious food and spending time with family and friends and (at least for Christians) reflecting and giving thanks for God’s blessings.

Like so many folks, I was thinking about all the many things I have to be thankful for and this year, especially with the beautiful growth of my relationship with Katie, I have some super extra special things I am praising God for.

I read an interesting article by John Piper last week that really gave me pause to think.  If my thankfulness to God goes only as far as WHAT God does for me and never extends to being thankful for WHO He is, then my thanks is rather shallow and my lack of appreciation for God is rather insulting.  God’s gifts to us are an outpouring of who He is.  He is holy, loving, merciful, kind, righteous, magnificent…so many glorious things.  While I need to certainly be thankful and thank God for what He does for me, I also, and more importantly, need to be thankful for who He is.  I must glorify and praise Him for that.

Anyway, that is just something I was convicted of this Thanksgiving and  my prayer for myself this coming year is that my praise and thanks to God will include my gratitude for the great and wonderful things He does for me as well my praise and thanks for who He is!