COUNTLESS BLESSINGS
Jul 14, 2025
Psalm 40
COUNTLESS BLESSINGS
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders you have done. The things you planned for us no one can recount to you; were I to speak and tell of them, they would be too many to declare. (v.5)
If we complain about things we’d like to have but don't get, we should think about things we don't like to have that we don't get. Or as a poster poignantly puts it, "I complained didn't have shoes, till I saw someone who didn't have legs."
When David begins to count his blessings, he finds it impossible to stop. They are "many", "too many." He remembers the time God delivered him from "the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire," when God set his feet on a firm place, and when God put a song in his mouth (vv.2-3). There must be more than one such occasion. He simply cannot thank God enough.
Showing gratitude is an acquired art. We are naturally ungrateful. We quickly forget the help rendered to us once it has been given. I remember once asking a visiting speaker for an illustration he had used in his sermon. Though he was busy travelling, he promptly sent it to me the following week. I never acknowledged his favour until I met him again years later. He remembered, and asked if I had received what he sent me. I realized then how ungrateful I had been.
Conversely, we can think of those who take for granted the favours we do for them. Jesus once healed ten lepers of which only one returned to give thanks (Luke 17.11-19). Is that not a reflection of the human heart that a large majority of people take for granted what is done for them. When the need is met, the deed is forgotten!
Such is often the picture of our relationship with God. We ask, He gives, we receive, we forget. How we need to cultivate a grateful heart! David talks about the wonders God has done, and the things God has planned for him. Nothing happens by accident. Every little thing is wrought by God. If we begin noting and counting the little things in our life, we would be amazed at how good God is!
We cannot thank God enough, but we can try.
