Blogging the Psalms: Psalm 50

If I were hungry, I would not tell you,
     for the world and its fullness are mine — Psalm 50:12

Reading this verse reminded me of something very important that is easy to forget: God does not need us for anything. We do not provide Him with anything that He needs or wants. Truthfully, we cannot… because everything is His.

For the Christian, that includes our time, our money, all of it. It is all His.

Yet we have a strange idea that we “need” to do something for God—that we can somehow earn His favor, or pay Him back for the gift of grace we have received.

But there is one thing we can give Him. It seems like such a small thing, but it’s incredibly difficult for us to do sometimes: We can give Him thanks.

The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;
    to one who orders his way rightly
    I will show the salvation of God! — Psalm 50:23

It’s easy to give thanks when everything is right as rain. When I get a salary increase at work. When I get a free drink at Starbucks or a killer parking space anywhere. But it’s not so easy to give thanks when our lives are hitting the skids—when there’s not enough money in the bank account to pay all the bills. When my job is cut due to downsizing (this has happened, but is not happening, by the way). We’ve all got a list of “oh crap” scenarios rattling through our heads, think of one of those and ask the question: Can I give thanks in that situation?

God calls us to give thanks in all times and in all circumstances, the good and the bad. Are we able to look beyond our present circumstances, on even the worst days, and find even one thing to be thankful for?

Sometimes it might be as simple as, “Thank you, Jesus, that I woke up this morning.” Sometimes it’s a bit more complicated, like being thankful that even though my car broke down, I can still get to work without difficulty and live close to everything so grocery shopping isn’t an issue.

And in case you’re wondering, these are little nuggets of my prayer life.

But most importantly, we always have one extremely important thing that we can give thanks for: Jesus’ atoning death on the cross. The greatest gift that anyone can be given, forgiveness of sins and renewed relationship with God. That’s a very good thing, no?

So let’s take some time and ask ourselves some questions:

1. When was the last time I thanked Jesus for saving me?
2. What am I most thankful that Jesus saved me from?
3. How can I develop a posture of thankfulness in all areas of life?
4. How does a posture of thankfulness change my life?

So let’s all give Him thanks today and see how God motivates us to transform our lives and the lives of others.

For other entries in this series, please visit the Blogging the Psalms page.