Monday, November 23

This week, 10 Minutes with God will focus on the theme of gratitude and thanksgiving. May our hearts be prepared to give thanks to the Lord for He is good!

Psalm 100:4-5

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations.

A country farmer was visiting friends in the big city and they all stopped at a restaurant for lunch. When he was served his food, he bowed his head and gave thanks to the Lord. Several hot shot city dudes were sitting at a nearby table and noticed the farmer praying and chirped, “Hey pops, back where you come from does everybody do that before they eat?” The farmer took no offense, but looked at them with a smile and said, “Everybody but the pigs.”

Offering a prayer of thanksgiving before a meal might seem to some to be a kind of quaint habit or a kind of perfunctory ritual, but the Bible suggests that giving thanks is a prerequisite to experiencing and knowing God.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.

The ancient writer is saying that we must approach God with both thanksgiving and praise. The flip side of that would be that we cannot enter the presence of God without an attitude of thanksgiving.

Why is thanksgiving so important? Why can’t we even begin to worship until we give thanks? The issue is pride; failure to give thanks reveals an arrogant heart. When we are proud we are unwilling to worship anything but ourselves.

Pride cannot be thankful because pride wants to deserve everything it gets. Consider this meal-time prayer by the animated character of Bart Simpson from an old episode of “The Simpsons”:

“We earned it; we bought it; we made it; thanks for nothing!”

A heart that assumes it deserves blessing is a heart incapable of worship.

But the giving of thanks, properly understood, is the great spiritual antidote to pride; for pride cannot exist in a thankful heart!

Lord,
Forgive me for assuming I deserve your favor and goodness. Forgive me for the pride that lurks in my heart and keeps me from entering your presence with genuine praise. Teach me the humility of thanksgiving that I might worship you.

Amen

Pastor Brian Coffey