Ps 9:1
I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. ESV
- Ps 100:4; 103:2;
- Thankfulness is a choice. Thankfulness is more then an emotion; it is an attitude which steers your emotions. We can steer our attitude by choosing our outlook (what we look at and how we look at it). If we meditate on what God has done for us, it will overflow in praise and thanksgiving.
- In this chapter what things did David meditate on?
- God’s deliverance (vs 3, & 5-6)
- God’s Righteous judgments (vs 4 & 7-8)
- God being his place of refuge (vs 9, & 12)
IV. God’s faithfulness vs 10
- David gives thanks for the same things more then once (vs 11).
- If you look at vs 13-14, 18-20, he needs help even as he is singing this praise. He chose not to focus on how big his problem is but to look at how great his God is.
Deut 20:8
8 And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.’ ESV
- Attitudes are contagious. He is sent home to keep from spreading his attitude of fear and dread. They were better off short handed then having someone with a bad attitude. Should you be sent home to keep from spreading your attitude?
Luke 2:50-51
50 And they did not understand the saying that he spoke to them. 51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. ESV
- Sometimes parents don’t understand. This has become one of the most commonly mentioned excuses for kids to do what they want, instead of honoring their parents. Most of the time the parents actually understand more then kids. However, kids doesn’t see the big picture, even when parents don’t understand, it isn’t an excuse to do your own thing. Jesus’ parents truly didn’t understand, yet He was submissive anyway. We need to have the same attitude that Jesus had. Eph 6:1-2;
Num 11:5-6
5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. 6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.” ESV
When we look at the past through a complaining attitude we tend to have a glorified view of it. Back in the good old days, they were slaves in Egypt and got treated horribly. There is a huge lesson on perspective to be learned here.
First, things aren’t always as they seem. Second, complainers don’t see what they have until it is gone.
Even in the midst of slavery they could have seen things to be thankful for like the good food but back then they complained about being in slavery. Now they complain about their lack of food choices and mention their time of slavery as being great.
They just chose to think about the great things that they don’t have anymore, and the discomfort at the moment of what they do have. Their perspective had the ability to make slavery and mistreatment look better then freedom and mana the miracle of food being given to them everyday straight from heaven. We can choose to be thankful or to complain no matter where we are at in life. God wants us to always be thankful.Phil 2:14; 4:11;
Prov 14:6
A scoffer seeks Wisdom in vain [for his very attitude blinds and deafens him to it], but knowledge is easy to him who [being teachable] understands. AMP
- Your attitude can be deafening. How is yours? Rev 3:13NLT
- Are you willing to admit you are wrong? Do you receive correction or try to defend yourself? Do you make excuses and point the blame at something or someone else or do you own up to what you can change? He who thinks he knows it all doesn’t learn anything.
