I Will Give Thanks With All My Heart
2023! I can hardly believe it. This is the sixth year that I'm recording daily devotions like this, and you're welcome to go and hear the previous ones but I'm just going on to my website.
But onto something new for the new year. At the beginning of the year we often make new plans, new ideas, new resolutions. And at the beginning of Psalm 9 there are four “I will” statements that for me are great to start the year with.
We start the year wanting to achieve new things, wanting to set new goals and these four statements are great goals for the new year for us and they’re scriptural which means they are attainable and they are God focused.
Gratitude Amid Adversity
And so the Psalm starts with these words in verse 1: “I will give thanks to you Lord with all my heart.” And I think this is a great way to start the year - resolving, deciding that we're going to be the type of people who give thanks to God with all our hearts.
2023 could be a very satisfying year if we decide to give thanks to God with all of our hearts whatever comes our way.
For most people they give thanks when something good happens, and we always should of course. In the words of a song we should always “turn every blessing into praise”. But a deeper level of thankfulness is the ability to thank God no matter what's happening in your life. The ability to see the goodness of God even if nothing spectacular has happened.
Year of Gratitude
As the year unfolds friends let's decide “I will give thanks to you Lord with all my heart!” Let's decide to be the type of people who are always thanking God with all of our hearts, not only when spectacular good things happen but even through the ordinary days.
Every day should be a day of thankfulness, whether it's a day of joy or a day of sorrow. It can still be a day of thankfulness if we decide. Paul would often tell these people in his letters to always give thanks.
Friends as the year begins let's decide that we will give thanks to God this year whatever comes our way. What a good year it will be if this is our mindset from the very beginning.
