11-20-2021 Seventh Day BAPTIST Edgewater FL Pastor Keith “Be Thankful and Not Ungrateful”. Psalm 103;1-5, Matthew 6;19-21
My Dad used to tell me when I was young this quote, “I was sad that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet”. The meaning behind this is that there are always going to be people worst off then you. We need to be grateful for the things we do have and stop taking things for granted. We have it good in America compared to some people in other countries. Tonight I have a warm comfortable bed to sleep in. In the morning I have a light switch to flick the light on. I have available for me a hot cup of coffee and a chair to read my Bible in. I don’t have to worry about being persecuted for having a Bible like some people are in other countries. I have a closet full of clothes to choose from and a fridge full of food for my breakfast. I can wear what I want to wear, eat what I want to eat and then get into my truck and drive anywhere I want to go. All of these things have become so routine to me that I tend to take them for granted.
I, we must always remember that all of these things are blessings from God. This is God who loves me and wants good things for me. In Psalm 103 David said “Bless the Lord and all that is within me, bless His holy name”. If we forget the blessings He has given us, we may start to take them for granted. We will become ungrateful people. We could be like the woman in the grocery store who complained about the size of the turkey. She asked the clerk “don’t these turkeys get any bigger?” The clerk said “No ma’am, they are dead “. Now that woman had more food in front of her then some people in third world countries would ever see. Yet she was angry because what she saw wasn’t good enough, wasn’t big enough for her. We don’t want to become like this.
If we don’t get into the habit of thanking God for what we do have, we soon will become ungrateful and thinking only about what we don’t have. Many people who have lots of food, clothes, money and cellphones are still just complaining about what they don’t have. All they seem to want to do is grumble and complain. If we don’t get into the habit of thanking God for what we do have, we soon will be ungrateful for what we don’t have. Psalm 103 says get into the habit of being thankful. Get into the habit of not forgetting but remembering what God has given to you. The Bible says we should give thanks for ALL things! We tend to be thankful for tangible things like jobs, cars, homes etc. These are great things to be thankful for but looking at Psalm 103, David didn’t mention anything tangible. By tangible I mean something you can touch or hold or see with your eyes. Not once did David give thanks for his family, home or his job. David praised God because God had forgiven all his sins, healed all his diseases, redeemed his life from the pit, crowned him with love and compassion and satisfied him with good things.
Why would David focus on these things? Because David knew that these were things that God had promised and God is faithful in keeping His promises. The world cannot take these things away. I can lose my house, my family, my freedom but I cannot lose the things in Psalm 103 because they are promises from God. In Matthew 6;19-21 Jesus said the same thing when He said don’t store up for yourselves treasures on the earth where moth and rust destroy them. Store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where moth, rust do not destroy them and where thieves do not steal. Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So in Psalm 103 David is telling us his treasures are laid up in Heaven. David’s greatest treasure was that God loved him and had compassion for him.
David says that he is fragile, just like the rest of us. In verse 15 he says man’s life is like grass, like a flower in a field. The wind blows over it and it is gone. The place remembers it no more. In verse 13 it says God knows and remembers that we are dust. But when God formed us from this dust, He created us in His image and likeness. Even though we are fragile, we are a special creation of God. We may be forgotten by this world, but God will never forget us. He crowned you with love and compassion. God redeems your life from the pit and gives you good things.
In the Bible we read of men being thrown into the pit. Jeremiah sank into the mire of a pit and Daniel was thrown into the pit of the lion’s den. Then there was Joseph whose brothers threw him into a pit with the intention of killing him but later sold him into slavery in Egypt. These are literal pits that God rescues them from but there were other pits that were not so literal. David spent several years running from King Saul. Moses spent 40 years in exile from Egypt. Ruth spent a number of years in poverty. Each story tells how God reached down into the holes/pits and pulls people out of the pit and placed them on solid ground. What God did for all these people, He will do for you. If you feel like you are in a pit today, wait on the Lord and keep your eyes on the good things that you have and not on the things that you don’t have. When you feel down, when you feel desperate, you should count your blessings and focus on the blessings He gives and be patient. God loves you and He has promised that He will lift you out of the pit.
In Psalm 23, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” God loves and protects us like a shepherd caring for and tending to his sheep. The problem is that most of us want to be the shepherd. We want to be the shepherd of our own life. It’s not fun being a sheep we say. The problem is that we don’t know where the still waters are. We don’t know where the green pastures are. Every time we go searching for these things we end up in far country. God says let Him be the shepherd and we be the sheep. He will lead us by the still waters and lead us to green pastures. Just surrender our way and let God lead us. Even Jesus said not my will but God’s will be done. We know that God loves us. As we walk with God and trust Him, He will lead us, protect us and restore us. On every day and not just on Thanksgiving, we should focus our attention on the goodness of God. Let us have grateful hearts and Bless the Lord.
AMEN
My Dad used to tell me when I was young this quote, “I was sad that I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet”. The meaning behind this is that there are always going to be people worst off then you. We need to be grateful for the things we do have and stop taking things for granted. We have it good in America compared to some people in other countries. Tonight I have a warm comfortable bed to sleep in. In the morning I have a light switch to flick the light on. I have available for me a hot cup of coffee and a chair to read my Bible in. I don’t have to worry about being persecuted for having a Bible like some people are in other countries. I have a closet full of clothes to choose from and a fridge full of food for my breakfast. I can wear what I want to wear, eat what I want to eat and then get into my truck and drive anywhere I want to go. All of these things have become so routine to me that I tend to take them for granted.
I, we must always remember that all of these things are blessings from God. This is God who loves me and wants good things for me. In Psalm 103 David said “Bless the Lord and all that is within me, bless His holy name”. If we forget the blessings He has given us, we may start to take them for granted. We will become ungrateful people. We could be like the woman in the grocery store who complained about the size of the turkey. She asked the clerk “don’t these turkeys get any bigger?” The clerk said “No ma’am, they are dead “. Now that woman had more food in front of her then some people in third world countries would ever see. Yet she was angry because what she saw wasn’t good enough, wasn’t big enough for her. We don’t want to become like this.
If we don’t get into the habit of thanking God for what we do have, we soon will become ungrateful and thinking only about what we don’t have. Many people who have lots of food, clothes, money and cellphones are still just complaining about what they don’t have. All they seem to want to do is grumble and complain. If we don’t get into the habit of thanking God for what we do have, we soon will be ungrateful for what we don’t have. Psalm 103 says get into the habit of being thankful. Get into the habit of not forgetting but remembering what God has given to you. The Bible says we should give thanks for ALL things! We tend to be thankful for tangible things like jobs, cars, homes etc. These are great things to be thankful for but looking at Psalm 103, David didn’t mention anything tangible. By tangible I mean something you can touch or hold or see with your eyes. Not once did David give thanks for his family, home or his job. David praised God because God had forgiven all his sins, healed all his diseases, redeemed his life from the pit, crowned him with love and compassion and satisfied him with good things.
Why would David focus on these things? Because David knew that these were things that God had promised and God is faithful in keeping His promises. The world cannot take these things away. I can lose my house, my family, my freedom but I cannot lose the things in Psalm 103 because they are promises from God. In Matthew 6;19-21 Jesus said the same thing when He said don’t store up for yourselves treasures on the earth where moth and rust destroy them. Store up for yourselves treasures in Heaven where moth, rust do not destroy them and where thieves do not steal. Jesus said where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. So in Psalm 103 David is telling us his treasures are laid up in Heaven. David’s greatest treasure was that God loved him and had compassion for him.
David says that he is fragile, just like the rest of us. In verse 15 he says man’s life is like grass, like a flower in a field. The wind blows over it and it is gone. The place remembers it no more. In verse 13 it says God knows and remembers that we are dust. But when God formed us from this dust, He created us in His image and likeness. Even though we are fragile, we are a special creation of God. We may be forgotten by this world, but God will never forget us. He crowned you with love and compassion. God redeems your life from the pit and gives you good things.
In the Bible we read of men being thrown into the pit. Jeremiah sank into the mire of a pit and Daniel was thrown into the pit of the lion’s den. Then there was Joseph whose brothers threw him into a pit with the intention of killing him but later sold him into slavery in Egypt. These are literal pits that God rescues them from but there were other pits that were not so literal. David spent several years running from King Saul. Moses spent 40 years in exile from Egypt. Ruth spent a number of years in poverty. Each story tells how God reached down into the holes/pits and pulls people out of the pit and placed them on solid ground. What God did for all these people, He will do for you. If you feel like you are in a pit today, wait on the Lord and keep your eyes on the good things that you have and not on the things that you don’t have. When you feel down, when you feel desperate, you should count your blessings and focus on the blessings He gives and be patient. God loves you and He has promised that He will lift you out of the pit.
In Psalm 23, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul: He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” God loves and protects us like a shepherd caring for and tending to his sheep. The problem is that most of us want to be the shepherd. We want to be the shepherd of our own life. It’s not fun being a sheep we say. The problem is that we don’t know where the still waters are. We don’t know where the green pastures are. Every time we go searching for these things we end up in far country. God says let Him be the shepherd and we be the sheep. He will lead us by the still waters and lead us to green pastures. Just surrender our way and let God lead us. Even Jesus said not my will but God’s will be done. We know that God loves us. As we walk with God and trust Him, He will lead us, protect us and restore us. On every day and not just on Thanksgiving, we should focus our attention on the goodness of God. Let us have grateful hearts and Bless the Lord.
AMEN