True Prayer and Thanksgiving

“Call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me“ (Psalm 50:15)

“Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits” (Psalm 103:2)

 These two verses from my morning readings this week have reinforced the importance of having a thankful heart towards God. Psalm 50:15 really gives a simple, three-step model for the prayer requests of the Christian. There is:

1) Our Dependence on God in Prayer

God says, “Call upon me in the day of trouble.” And yet, isn’t that the last thing that we do. Our natures would rather depend on anyone other than God. So often we call on our friends, relatives, bankers, lawyers – all sorts of people – when we’re in trouble. But God says, “Call upon me.”

2) The Answer from God.

“I will deliver thee” is the divine promise. Now it may not be that the answer is always what we wanted, or when we wanted it, or how we wanted it; but there is always an answer none the less. His deliverance of us may be in the trial rather than from the trial. Or it may be that we will be delivered through the trial rather than out of the trial. Yet, no matter what, He will deliver.

3) Our Thanksgiving to God

“Thou shalt glorify me.” Isn’t this where we so often mess up? Perhaps, like Israel in the wilderness, we grumble because God’s provision didn’t take the form that we would’ve preferred. Or maybe, like Pharoah in Egypt, we forget about His mercy when He grants our requests. Unthankfulness is a mark of our age, just like Paul said it would be (2 Timothy 3:2).

It was this thought of the need for genuine thankfulness to God that really struck home with me and linked this passage together with Psalm 103:2. “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”

True thankfulness is a lost attitude today – even among believers. I often wonder whether expressions like “Thank God” are any more than mere euphemisms in many of our lives. I hear them said so often, but usually it seems to spring more from habit than from true gratefulness of heart.

And what about giving thanks for my food at lunchtime? Is there really genuine thankfulness in my heart at each meal? Or is it a mere formality? Perhaps a duty or a habit?

I hope that there is genuine thanksgiving in our heart each time we bow our heads before we eat. But if there is, then I have to wonder why we so often complain about the food for which we just gave thanks?

Thankfulness is one of the best ways that we can glorify God (Psalm 50:15). Let’s each seek by God’s grace to be truly thankful this week.