Most of All, Thank You for Being God

Most of All, Thank You for Being God

Posted on by Michele Morin

November ushers in my favorite holiday. It’s the Gratitude Season—days for making a conscious effort to say “Thank YOU!” to God for all the blessings, big and small, that we take for granted most of the time.

Psalm 118 begins with gratitude for God’s goodness and mercy, and then proceeds to give evidence to back up the claim. The psalmist wears out his pen with one blessing after another: the Lord is for us, he is trustworthy, he defends us against our enemies, he is the cornerstone of our faith.

Then, verses 28 and 29 bring the chapter to its climax with thanksgiving to God simply for being God.

You are my God, and I will give thanks to you;
    you are my God; I will extol you.
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Psalm 118:28-29)

The psalmist was overflowing with knowledge of God and wonder at God’s ways.
Tell me, what do you know about God that transports you into immediate gratitude?

The more we know about him, the more grateful we can be.
As our knowledge of God grows, our gratitude grows.
With every discovery of his goodness, we can give thanks that he is God.

With every experience of God’s faithfulness, we can be grateful that we are NOT God. We can stop trying to hijack his attributes, cobbling together a fake omnipresence with the apps on our phones, Googling our way toward a false omniscience, and exhausting ourselves in a cheap, caffeine-fueled imitation of omnipotence.

We come to God’s word with the expectation that every discovery about God is a stimulus for thanksgiving.

Thank you, God…

…that we can know your goodness.
We know it from your word and we see it in the world you have made.
Thank you!
Because we experience your steadfast love, we can be conduits of your love and goodness to others. Thank you!
We come before you today with gratitude, in and through Jesus Christ.
Amen.

Holding You in the Light,

For the month of November, Sunday Scripture posts will be given over to gratitude. I hope you’ll enter into the celebration with me by sharing your own blessings in the comments below.

We come to God’s word with the expectation that every discovery about God is a stimulus for thanksgiving.

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Published by Michele Morin

Michele Morin is a Bible teacher, writer, reader, and gardener committed to the truth that women can become confident Christ-followers and students of God's Word. She has been married to an unreasonably patient husband for thirty-plus years, and together they have four married sons and a growing fleet of adorable grandchildren. Michele loves hot tea and well-crafted sentences, poems that stop her in her tracks, and days at the ocean with the whole family. She laments biblical illiteracy and advocates for the prudent use of “little minutes.” She blogs at Living Our Days, and you can connect with her on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter.

22 thoughts on “Most of All, Thank You for Being God”

  1. When I was in bibleschool, one of the men on staff introduced the idea of a Thankful Book to us all. Over the years I’ve done it and thought about it, but it HAS always stayed in my mind. Being consciously thankful for all the good things God has given us always helps my attitude….

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I get that it’s hard to see in a moment of stress or crisis, but, because God is not random or haphazard, there is a reason for everything and it really does come together for those who love the Lord. It very often takes hindsight to recognize and acknowledge this so given my hard earned experience, I tend to do the Thank You Lord in the middle of something I don’t understand. It’s like a salve for my soul. When I am able to thank Him even when I am stressed I suddenly feel calmed. 

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Michele,

    This sentence!!

    “We can stop trying to hijack his attributes, cobbling together a fake omnipresence with the apps on our phones, Googling our way toward a false omniscience, and exhausting ourselves in a cheap, caffeine-fueled imitation of omnipotence.”

    This is such a powerful description of our daily auto-pilot schedules. If we aren’t intentional in our pursuit and gratefulness to God, we are just led along with the current of the culture.

    Thank you!

    Liked by 1 person

  4. I’ve been choosing to write down what I’m grateful for each morning when I wake up. It makes a difference in how I choose to walk out the rest of the day. Thank you for highlighting gratitude with God’s word.

    Liked by 2 people

  5. You write: “With every experience of God’s faithfulness, we can be grateful that we are NOT God” – I am so thankful that I do not have to be everything, only what He’s called me to be. It sounds cliched to say I am thankful for each of my children – but when I look at their wives I prayed for – I just want to burst into tears of joy! I’m thankful for the blue skies this week – and for the the cool down. Our county turned off everyone’s electricity in our area for about five hours – and I got to see all the stars I’ve been missing – and God was there watching it with me. I am so thankful I am His!

    Liked by 2 people

  6. Beautiful, Michele. In one very specific area, I’m finding so much to be thankful for as I ride my bike in the morning. I used to be disgruntled and irritated that I couldn’t run anymore. Now I”m intentionally looking for blessings along the trail and finding them everywhere. So thankful that God knows what we need and lovingly provides it.

    Liked by 1 person

  7. I love your suggestion to come to God’s Word with the expectation that every discovery about God is a stimulus for thanksgiving. We could start in the psalms, record one discovery each day, and no doubt re-amaze ourselves how glorious and wonderful our God is. (I think I need to add a new section to my Quiet Time Notebook!) Thank you, Michele, for inspiring us. I can already feel the power of gratitude waiting to be experienced!

    Liked by 1 person

  8. “We come to God’s word with the expectation that every discovery about God is a stimulus for thanksgiving.” Amen. Years ago, I began praying before I opened my Bible to read for the Lord to show me something in His Word. Opening His Word and receiving what is needed for each day is reason enough to give thanks.

    Liked by 1 person

  10. This is a good reminder that our time in the Word isn’t just to finish a section for the day, but to get to know God better. The more we see Him in Scripture, the more we rejoice in Him. I especially love verses that say that God is my song and my joy–not just that He gives me those things, but He IS my song and my joy . . . and so much more.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. I try to list blessings and appreciate God’s attributes year-round, but this month just really turns into a great time to especially ponder the goodness of God. I love your post because now that I’m thinking about it, I’m not sure if I ever thank God for being God. Not sure I’ve ever really thought about that. Thank you for this lovely post, and I will certainly be thinking on that this blessings month.

    Liked by 1 person

    1. That emphasis seems to be reverberating for me throughout this month. I’ve got a post coming up next week in which I share a list of ten of God’s Hebrew names with guided prayers, thanking him for all the name implies.

      Liked by 1 person

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