As always you can read the transcript below
Psalm 119:57-64
57You are my portion, Lord;I have promised to obey Your words.58 I have sought Your face with all my heart;be gracious to me according to Your promise.59 I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to Your statutes.60 I will hasten and not delay to obey Your commands.61 Though the wicked bind me with ropes,I will not forget Your law.62 At midnight I rise to give You thanks for Your righteous laws.63 I am a friend to all who fear You,to all who follow Your precepts.64 The earth is filled with Your love, Lord;teach me Your decrees.
Matthew 5:8
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
THANKSGIVING
SUNDAY
Springford Baptist Church: October 11, 2020.
Psalm
119:57-64; Matthew 5:8
THANKFUL FOR THE BLESSING OF SEEING GOD
On
this Thanksgiving Sunday, we thank God for the blessing of seeing
Him.
We cannot be LEARNING THE WAY OF BLESSING without seeing and experiencing God in us and in the world around us.
Jesus says, as recorded in Matthew 5:8, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
We often hear it said, “Seeing is believing.”We are accustomed to living in a world where we want evidence and if something is to be proven true, we want to see it for ourselves. One of the objections that some people have to believing in God and trusting in Him is that they cannot see Him.
Notice what Jesus plainly says here, “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.”
Jesus is not saying that we have to be perfect to see God because that would eliminate everyone of us. He does say that in order to receive the blessing of seeing God, we must be “pure in heart.”
In Biblical language, the heart is the center of the human spirit, from which spring emotions, thoughts, motivations, courage and action.
A pure heart is centered in God and therefore everything focuses on God and what God desires.
When our hearts are determinedly focused on God, then we do see God.
We can be enlightened by the Message Translation of Matthew 5:8 “You’re blessed when you get your inside world-your mind and heart-put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.”
One of the most effective ways of getting our inside world (our hearts and minds) put right is gratitude. Yes, that’s right, gratitude or giving thanks permits us to see God.
This week at the Long Term Care Home where I am Chaplain, I was asking our residents to talk about for what they wanted to give thanks to God.
Their answers touched my heart. One woman who isn’t very well at all was thanking God for her health. Another woman was thanking God that she had gotten up that morning. A man responded, “for the light of day.” Many answered, “for family.” Some were thinking it over and simply responded, “for everything.”
Gratitude
unlocks the fullness of life.
It turns what we have into enough
and more.
It turns denial into acceptance; chaos to order;
confusion to clarity.
It can turn a meal into a feast, a house
into a home, a stranger into a friend.
Gratitude makes sense of
our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”
Melody Beattie
When we recognize all that God has done and continues to do and give Him thanks, then the fog of discontent and fear begins to clear so that we can see God.
How necessary this is in the time we are living.
We could easily have our focus slip to all that seems to be wrong and to wondering how we are going to get through this. Without gratitude, the result will be losing sight of God.
If we instead choose to notice and to thank God for all that He has done and is doing, then we will be living hope filled lives of trusting God and as a result, seeing God everywhere.
In Psalm 119:57-64, we encounter the words and prayers of someone who wanted to have a pure heart, a heart centred in God.
57You are my portion, Lord;I have promised to obey Your words.58 I have sought Your face with all my heart;be gracious to me according to Your promise.59 I have considered my ways and have turned my steps to Your statutes.60 I will hasten and not delay to obey Your commands.
God is his portion. Just as God’s people were given their portion of land to call their own and to settle in, we are invited to settle in God. We belong to Him and can be at home with Him. Thank You God that we do belong to You!
Verses 58-60 describe a pure heart. This writer has sought God’s face with all His heart and the purity of His heart and focus has him asking and expecting God to be gracious to him according to God’s promise.
God says, “You will seek Me and you will find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
There is willingness in the writer of Psalm 119 to consider any ways that have not been according to God’s ways and to hasten and not delay or to make excuses, but to obey God’s commands and to follow God’s ways. Thank You God that You keep bringing us back to You!
This pure hearted, whole hearted focus on God continues:
61 Though the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget Your law.62 At midnight I rise to give You thanks for Your righteous laws.63 I am a friend to all who fear You,to all who follow Your precepts.64 The earth is filled with Your love, Lord; teach me Your decrees.
No matter what, this God loving person will not forget God and God’s ways.
He will even get up in the middle of the night to give God thanks! (vs. 62)
Are
you in the habit of getting up in the night to thank God?
Thank
You God that we have reasons to thank You all through the day and the
night!
In spite of all that is happening in our lives as individuals and in our upside down world, we can focus wholeheartedly on the truth of Psalm 119:64:
“The earth is filled with Your love, LORD…”
Thank You God that our earth is still filled with Your love! Thank You that when we see Your love, we see You and are blessed!
It is a remarkable blessing this Thanksgiving that we can see and know God. With pure hearts, made pure by Jesus, we can focus our attention on God and in thanking Him for who He is and all He does we can expect to see God more and more.
As we count our blessings, may we be sure to include the blessing of pure hearts focused on seeing God!