Confess the good

We’re made for thanksgiving! God’s goodness, His character compels it. But as I looked into Psalm 136:1, I was a little lost at first. The words wouldn’t come. See, I’m trying to find my song again, after being silent for a while. So, I went back to the interlinear Bible that I told you about yesterday and learned something that made my heart sing.

You know what it feels like when your heart sings? For some of you, it’s running your best time, when you least expect it. Or it’s like learning how to knit…and then making a sweater (or so I’ve been told). For me, it’s like suffering through tidying up and housecleaning because, for that split second, there’s no clutter to distract or confuse and there’s order and peace, visually. Even knowing another mess is right around the corner, my heart sings for that split second.

What brings us a sense of well-being and joy varies greatly. As a side note, I am reading the most wonderful book about how God creates us for happiness and how He creates happiness for us—The Happiness Dare—and I highly recommend it! The book explains that differing happiness styles is just one way that God has made each of us uniquely (you can find out more about YOUR happiness style by taking the quiz here).

God made each of us in His image, yet all of us are so different. Our differences demonstrate the infinite nature of God. We’re like the paint chips at Home Depot—all the colors represented in the paint department don’t even begin to express all the possible variations! Color is infinite.

There’s diversity in God’s people too, but today’s verse teaches us one way that we’re all the same.

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Psalm 136:1, ESV

We’re all told to give thanks. In the Hebrew, this is yadah. This word is what made my heart sing—seeing little pieces of what God has taught me come together. I have fallen in love with the word Yadah; it means to confess, to agree, to acknowledge. When we confess our faith, when we confess our sin, we yada. When we confess our thanks, because God is good, we yadah.

Know the Lord

Here’s the best part: the homonym yada means to know, intimately, to know experientially. I love the wordplay because when we confess, we experience God…we know Him, intimately. When we speak the Truth—confessing sin, confessing God’s goodness, confessing our faith, confessing our thanks—we have Jesus on our lips, because He is Truth and He is the way to relationship with the Father (John 14:1-2). This is the kind of intimate knowing of God that makes our hearts sing!

This post almost didn’t happen. But the Lord gave me a “aha!” moment bringing together what I have learned before, with what I am living now.  In a chat with new friends this week, we explored our differences. We talked about our contrasting passions and purposes. We were struck with how differently our experiences have prepared us to embrace passion and purpose.

In spite of the infinite differences between His people, which express the infinite nature of God’s character, He has made us all for the same purpose, with the same passion. We and all of creation are called to the same purpose and passion:

Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Psalm 96:1, ESV

This month, I’m looking for good. I’m #CuratingtheGood. And when we see the good, we’re called to yadah—confess the good, acknowledge the good, experience the good. Purpose, passion, gifting? Y’all thanksgiving IS our calling. Thanksgiving isn’t like missionary work or starting a life-changing ministry; it’s a quieter, higher calling. When we yadah, we’re in good company. Our confession of the goodness of God joins the song of a heavenly chorus and all of creation.

Sweet friends, what makes your heart sing?