Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! - Psalm 118:1 (NIV).
If dark clouds are gathering above two things can happen. One could see floods ahead, impassable roads and broken bridges everywhere. Fearful, one parent screams, “Get back in the house and sit still!” Another person though sees crops ripening and flowers blooming blessed by these rains. Hopeful, the parent smiles and tells the children to ready their hoes and scythe eager for a good harvest.
Life has these two sets of people. There is a certain Aunt who on hearing a nephew has applied to go to a certain top school frowns with a lecture, “No, you can’t go there!” And then there is that Uncle who on hearing a niece has applied to go to a certain school is quick to pat on her back and says, “Go for it!” Two people are looking at the same situation but with different attitudes.
A positive attitude can see stars above when darkness engulfs everywhere. A negative attitude will bemoan the fate of all and hear only shrills of agony the moment darkness takes over sunlight.
In the Christian life we also encounter with attitudes. Here is someone in perfect health, perhaps with a job, and family but seeing his progress against others is suddenly swallowed up with a negative attitude that whatever he does can’t amount to anything. What is killing him is comparison. Another person has his deal turned down but rather than descend into a pity party just takes a stock of all that he has achieved since, and more, the fact that he is alive and in good health, to smile ahead and wait for greater opportunities. He brightens when he remembers God’s word, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31).
Every one of us needs a fresh dose of positive attitude for there is always a lot pushing against us, especially for Christ followers since they are up against a system counter to God’s laws. Next time, if you encounter a situation that makes you feel low, just go out and sing: “When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done!”
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, when I look around and see all you have done, I am so thankful, for am blessed indeed, and the future is bright because it is in you!
Related upcoming events
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19/04/2024 - 20/04/2024 All day“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland” ( Isaiah 43:19).
Just before fire was unleashed down on Sodom and Gommorah, Lot was told to pack up with his wife and two daughters and leave their homestead. Now, once out of danger, “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt” ( Gen 19:26). Perhaps here we might pause and ask why she was bothered to look back.
Of course it could have been that old “curiosity killed a cat” mistake! Yet, it could also have been Lot’s wife was not sure where she was going and longed for her old life back. This is a common error. There was nothing stirring to look back. Just before Lot’s neighbors had attacked his house eager to rape his visitors. “They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them” ( vv 5). Was there anything worth looking back to!
The case of Lot’s wife could be anyone else’s experience. The Lord has plucked you out of some mess. You have been delivered to a new life. Yet, somehow you decide to look back, as though there was anything good and worth longing for. Sometimes it is a bitter past you have been delivered from. Other than rejoice in your new blessings you keep being drawn back!
A wise caution goes, “As a dog returns to its vomit, so fools repeat their folly” ( Proverbs 26:11). If the Lord has just led you out of a certain mess why look back like it was much better! Instead look ahead, for “he who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters, who drew out the chariots and horses, the army and reinforcements together, and they lay there, never to rise again, extinguished, snuffed out like a wick: Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past” ( vv 17- 18).
Prayer today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven and earth, I thank you for delivering me from the darkness of the past and I look forward to a bright new future in you, this I pray in Jesus’ name!
