1000000000000 reasons
We're still in verse 2 because I left out that last line yesterday. Just listen to it again:
You’re rich in love, and You’re slow to anger
Your name is great and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
10,000 reasons for my heart to find
For all your goodness we will keep on singing. We spoke about that yesterday. And then he says 10,000 reasons for my heart to sing. 10,000 reasons is the title of the song.
So Many Reasons To Praise
Of course it's not literally 10,000 reasons. 10,000 is just a figure of unending reasons, essentially, for our hearts to sing. So often we forget that there are reasons to praise God. We get overwhelmed by our lives. We get overwhelmed by difficulties. They blind us and they keep us up at night. And so often all we can focus on are the reasons we have to be unhappy.
We Get Stuck Complaining
I think that's where Satan wants us to be. He wants our heads to be wrapped around the reasons that we could have to be unhappy. And he wants us to get stuck there. He wants us to wallow and be full of complaining and moaning and anger.
You know, in South Africa there are many things to be unhappy about. We have a corrupt government. We have all sorts of infrastructure problems. There's much tension all around. And for many people they get stuck in this anger because of all this stuff and they focus so much on the reasons to be unhappy that they forget about the 10,000+ reasons to sing God's praise. They forget about the 10,000 plus reasons that God is good! They forget about who He is and how Him being in their lives gives them reasons to sing.
Look For the Reasons to Praise
What about you? Are you finding reasons to moan and complain about your job, about your situation, about whatever, or are you looking for reasons to say “Hallelujah!”? Are you looking for reasons to say “Bless the Lord oh my soul!“?
You know what, friends? If you look for reasons to praise God, they are everywhere. I mean everywhere. Right now if you take a moment to think about your body, there are many reasons to praise God right there. Your clothing, the food you've eaten, the house you live in, the devices that you own, the family in your life, the friends in your life, the church that you're blessed by, the positions that you have, the money that you have, the music that's part of your life. There's a few reasons, and they're pretty immediate, tangible reasons to be thankful.
But how many more are there? What about God’s love? God's goodness, God's patience, God's mercy, God's creation? God Son, God's salvation, God’s Holy Spirit, God's sanctifying grace. The things he's done in the past, the things he's doing now, the things he's going to do in the future.
Hundreds of thousands of reasons to sing! Don't get caught in finding reasons to be down. Find reasons to sing and your heart will be happy.
