Prayer of Thankfulness

This Summer, I’ve been talking to you about prayer, using prayers from the Bible as my texts. You can review messages from this series online at the church’s website, where you can both read the message and download to a recording of it. Today, I want to talk about thankful prayers!

Are you aware of the power of sincere gratitude?

"Thanks-living" has the capability of transforming a bad day into a good one, a difficult relationship into a rewarding one, a miserable situation into one that is tolerable. Anybody who knows me even a little, is well aware that I can be a real grump, that I live wrapped up in the world of ideas and thoughts a lot. I am not exactly "Johnnie Sunshine" some of the time because of the drive to 'get it done' and the need to see it (whatever 'it' is) done right and well. Truth is, when I am at my most focused and intense state, I don't even like me. I'm sure somebody's going to remind me of that statement at exactly the wrong moment.

There is a way to regain a grip on my brighter side. I begin to offer up thanks. If I will make the choice to begin to give thanks in time of difficulty, it can make a real and observable difference. I have to offer what the Bible calls a 'sacrifice of praise.' In that, I give up my will, my desire for more pleasant circumstances, and begin to thank God for His goodness, for His sovereignty, for His sometimes inscrutable will! In a matter of moments, I can feel the anxiety ease. Sometimes thankfulness is almost spontaneous! When some wonderful thing happens - a heart-felt "Thank you, Lord! Praise God!" bursts from my lips.

Whatever our situation, we need to develop an attitude of gratitude. David urges us to adopt thanksgiving as a lifestyle. "I will praise the Lord at all times. I will constantly speak his praises.
I will boast only in the Lord; let all who are discouraged take heart.
Come, let us tell of the Lord’s greatness; let us exalt his name together." (Psalm 34:1-4, NLT)

He clearly wants us to thank Him for His faithfulness, for His love, for His goodness even when it seems like He's forsaken us, or left us in the grasp of the Evil One.

I believe it is safe to say that many of us are not as thankful in our relationship with God as we ought to be, that we do not pray prayers of thanksgiving, because we do not live properly in awe of Him. If He were to approach us in all of His majesty, we would lose the arrogance of spirit that makes us more likely to accuse Him than to praise and/or thank Him.

Have you ever been absolutely terrified? Some years ago I took a flight out of the Denver, CO airport. As we flew along the east slope of the Rocky Mountains a storm gripped that 737 jet. It was tossed like a feather in the sky. Objects bounced around the cabin. We were holding on for dear life, as the seatbelts held us in place. I have earned a pilot's license and enjoy flying commercially, but that flight was one I hope never to repeat. I was sick with fear when we finally emerged from that storm cell. Landing safely was never before an occasion for thanksgiving, but it was that day!

Those who challenge the natural elements in sky-diving, mountain climbing, diving and other adventures that defy common sense sometimes tell of the panic that comes in a moment of mishap.

This kind of gut-wrenching terror can be a positive experience!

It gives us a better perspective on our place in this world and can produce a new sense of gratitude in us! A little fear can be a good thing, if it produces a new sense of awe in us.

Many people charge God with neglecting their needs. They experience a bitterness, a simmering anger at the Lord, that boils just below the surface of their consciousness. This is not true of only those outside the church. That is true of some of us here today. We mouth words of praise and thanksgiving in the songs we sing, in public prayers, and in our conversations; but in the depths of our hearts we are not grateful in the least. We feel that God has left us without remedy. We are either unwilling or unable to offer up sincere thanks to Him in the present situation of our life.

If you are in that place, I do not condemn you this morning. I do, however, believe that you need to be newly terrified by the Almighty so as to gain a clearer mind about His will and His ways relative to yourself.

Go with me to a text that shows us a man whose prayer came from a place of bitterness, rather than thankfulness, a man who saw only his own frustration, and missed the purposes of God.

TEXT - Jonah 4 Pew Bible page 1438

This prophet, who is best known for his ride inside a big fish, is a stubborn man. Remember the story? God called him to go and preach to Israel’s enemy, the city of Nineveh, which was the home of cruel raiders who terrorized that region. Rather than obey, Jonah took passage on a boat headed due West on the Sea, the exact opposite direction he was to travel. God sent a storm and Jonah realized he was the cause of the peril, so he told the sailors to pitch him overboard. God sent a big fish who ate him like a hor d’oeuvre! A couple of days in that situation produced a change of mind and the fish vomited the prophet onto the beach and he headed for Nineveh. He preached with passion and the city had a spiritual awakening. From the lowest peasant to the king, people repented and sought God. God help back judgement on them.

In a most curious twist, Jonah, the preacher, was not glad for the results of his sermons! He really wanted the people in Nineveh to reject him, so that God would destroy their city. He was pre-occupied with his own plans and needs.

Take a look at his prayer! READ Jonah 4

Perhaps like the prophet, Jonah, you’re angry with God for the way your life is developing. If so, I want to be bold enough to say that you need to experience some holy terror, some real godly fear that can deliver you from a pre-occupation with your own comfort that keeps you from entering into the purposes of God wholeheartedly.

Turn with me to the 18th Psalm. In your pew Bible, page 855.

Here we find a song of King David that celebrates the faithfulness of God! In the opening verses he exuberantly praises God. In subsequent passages he leads us through the experiences of his life that have led him to his joyful thanksgiving. {read vv. 1-3}

What a heart for God! This military man uses one image and then another to describe the strength of his God and his confidence in that strength; rock, fortress, shield, stronghold. He is not ashamed to voice his love. "I love you, O Lord, my strength."

What had led David to such a confidence as this? If one knows his life story, one thing is certain. It is not because he has not had troubles, trials, or heartache. These words are not cheap sentiment expressed without thought.

Friend, his confidence is rooted in the faith that he had found in the time of terror.

When every foundation of life seemed to be crumbling away, David re-discovered God and real trust.

Again, we eavesdrop on his thoughts.... {read vv. 4-6}

Just what might had David had in mind as he spoke of death and distress?

1. Perhaps it was the cold wave of terror that he must have felt when he walked onto the field of battle with the giant Goliath.

2. Perhaps it was the day when, not once, but twice King Saul, in a fit of jealous rage, had attempted to pin him to a wall with a spear, or one of the dozens of times when he fled like a convicted criminal into the wilderness to escape Saul's murderous intentions.

3. He surely must have thought of the time of terror and sorrow that engulfed him when his beloved son, Absalom, started a rebellion and drove David from Jerusalem.

"A hostile world! I call to God, I cry to God to help me. From his palace he hears my call; my cry brings me right into his presence— a private audience!" (Psalm 18:6, The Message)

Few things push us out of a shallow and primarily emotion-based spirituality more effectively than the terrors of life. The trivialities that pass for the American dream are put in their proper place in our value system when the issue becomes survival! The feel-good religion that fills up so much of our devotion cannot keep us when Hell is knocking on our front door. In that desperate time, we have got to know who God is, that He is a good God, a powerful God, and that He is worthy of our complete truth.

Our unthankfulness is often rooted in the very blessings that we have come to take for granted. What an irony. In our peace and prosperity, we become self-centered and self-sufficient. No wonder the wise man prayed

{Proverbs 30:8-9} " ....give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, `Who is the Lord?'"

When David experienced great distress he turned to the Lord.

Now listen as he describes the Lord's response. {read vv. 7-19}

What a presentation of the majesty of God!

Have you faith to believe that God tears up the cosmos answering your cries? Yahweh, the God of the Universe, is no little god of timid expressions. Surely this is the God who shook open the jail that held the praying Paul and Silas, the God that sent lions to shut the mouths of lions for Daniel, and the God that brought the plagues on Egypt to free the people of His loving choice!

David recognizes that the deliverances he has enjoyed are not of himself. They are the work of God. No wonder he opens this song of prayerful thankfulness - {Psalm 18:1} I love you, O Lord, my strength.

Friend, I pray that a vision of this mighty God would come to you. Yes, in this kind of power He will surely terrify you, but you will also learn to trust Him and you will learn to thank Him.

Too many of us have tamed God to such an extent that we have lost all fear, all wonder, and even all hope of His intervention on our behalf. But He is an awesome God!

David understood that all of Creation was in God's control.

He believed that God caused all things to serve His purposes.

Do you? There are many obstacles in our modern minds to seeing God in this way and if we are trust God fully and be filled with thanksgiving to Him, they must be removed. We have been trained to see the world as a mere mechanism that runs by its own energy. Supposedly this vast and intricate universe sprang out of nothing with no cause. The delicate balances of life, the beauty and order all around us are the product of chance we are told. If you believe that you live in a world that is just a giant machine that shaped itself by chance, you will find prayer and trust in God a foolish proposition, thanksgiving a ridiculous exercise. Why thank a God that does not exist or if He exists, is not involved in any meaningful way in the world?

I pray - God shake us. Open our eyes that we will see your hand in the world around us. Remove the blinders that have been fastened over our senses that keep us from seeing you at work in the world around us.

Finally, this morning, we discover that David understands that God will not exploited. The Almighty demands a holy respect that translates into daily decisions that are right and holy. [ read vv. 20-29 ]

God will not be treated like an all purpose cleaner to rid our lives of every mess we create for ourselves. How well David knew that! His sinful infidelity with Bathsheba had created terrible family divisions and stresses. But he took responsibility for his actions and did not cheaply blame God for that suffering. But he also knows that {PSA 18:28} "You, O Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light."

To the penitent, God is a forgiver.

To the seeker of healing, God is the restorer.

To those who are in the dark of confusion, He is the One who gives light.

In closing let me ask you.....

Are you finding it difficult to thank God?

Perhaps that is true because you have no awe of Him, no sense of His majesty, or His power. Perhaps a certain kind of arrogance has crept into your life that insists that you know better than He what it is that you need. I pray that the God of the 18th Psalm will shake your world. I pray that He will become an awesome Presence before whom you cannot help but bow and cry out for mercy. Such an experience will create a new kind of faith in our lives as well as a new way of living that is less concerned with trivial matter and much more centered on eternal values.

[ read vv. 30-33, 46 ] AMEN