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?
I feel so unloved by people no one likes me I have not had my own place to lived for over 2 years I lost my unit because of my temper people saying nasty things to me and be hide my back or the anger and my heart being broken from nasty people now I have no place to lived no job no money I am so sad and cranky with myself what the enemy did to me working through people mostly christians stealing my things and breaking my things and how this man I knew ran me over I just want to get on with my life having my own place to lived money job and people to love me and to have friends who respect and care and love me
Sharon, I am sorry that you have experienced so many difficulties. I waited to reply because I wasn’t sure what was best to say. I still don’t have any “advice” for you because my experiences and difficulties are different from yours. But I want to encourage you with what the Bible has to say about difficulties. Romans 8:28 says that God always works through the bad to create good, for those who love Him and follow Him. Jesus said that He will never leave or forsake His followers (Matthew 28:20). He said that we would definitely have trouble in this broken fallen world, but to remember that He has overcome everything through His death and resurrection — because of Him we can look forward to a time where there are no tears, no sickness, no trouble (John 16:33, Rev 21:4).
But God allows us to have hard times for many reasons. Sometimes He wants us to learn more about Him, how to rely on Him (James 1:2-8; Hebrews 12:11). Sometimes He wants to teach us to obey Him so He shows us how bad our decisions are by letting us reap the consequences (Proverbs 3:11-12). Sometimes He wants to teach someone else a lesson through our situation (Genesis 50:20). Whatever His reasons, He is with you and will bring good out of it, if you believe in Him and follow His ways. He is so good, and loves His children so much that He sent Jesus so you would never have to endure difficulties alone. 🙂