"Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations”- Psalm 1004-5 (NIV)
In almost all monarchial states, whenever delegations are being ushered into the royal court, there are often greeted with trumpets blowing and an advance person singing praise to His or Her Majesty. The reason behind is that by the time one gets to meet the King or Queen, in person, such is already in the mood to receive the guest. Pleased, His Majesty gladly opens up to His visitors.
This is exactly what we are here being advised in our leading verse, that where we are entering into the presence of our heavenly Father, let us start with thanksgiving and praise. As one writer once observed we don’t enter into the presence of mere mortals, but a God who is the Father of all creations. If, earthly kings and queens, are worthy of this treat; then, how about the living God!
However, an important point is that we do this not as a hypocritical gesture, quite common in royal circles, where people blow trumpets to His majesty as a guise to seduce him award them something. In fact, in royal courts, praise singers have a tendency to overdo it, or compete in their adulation of His majesty. Theirs is often empty praise.
For Christians, our praise and thanksgiving must be genuine. When we look back at our lives we are indeed most grateful for all the good things God has done for us. How could we not, aware of His protection from disease and all manner of afflictions that could long have stricken us deathly blows. How could we not, looking back at all we have gathered in this life!
So, today, maybe one of those, when looking back at all Jehovah has done in your life, you enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. As Psalm 145:3 says, “Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom”
Prayer for today: Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven earth, today I come into your presence with thanksgiving and praise, for you have been so good to me, I am thankful, and give you praise!
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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!
