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Life comes at us fast. Some times good things happen, and other times we face an onslaught of difficulty after difficulty. When the waves of strife drive our faces into the dirt, we must not give up, lose heart, or stop trusting God. But lest "trusting God" becomes a mere cliché for us, God has ordained things for us to do to keep our minds fixed upon Him. It is a willful act that we must do to think on Him and remember Who He is and what He has done. As Paul says in Colossians 3:2, "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth." We are vulnerable to getting overwhelmed by the nonsense of this world, and it is imperative that we remember some things, particularly, that which is true about the many blessings which we have in Christ.

Surely, we can think of instances of answered prayer, of God’s provision, of God’s graces, of God’s good and perfect gifts to us, and of the mercy of God. We have the memories of past acts of God on our behalf, and we have the promise of our future inheritance in Christ to look forward to. In the meantime, we have the Word of God to remind us of the good heart of God. We should benefit from all three. Many times in Israel’s history, after a wonderful work of God, the Israelites would dedicate a song or build an altar in memory of what God had done. They were to tell their children of the mighty acts of God lest future generations forget His faithfulness. We, too, need to look back and remember what God has done for us. There is hope in remembering where we were and seeing how God in all wisdom delivered us from ourselves or from enemies. God is so gracious, and we cannot take His grace for granted. Rather, we should thank Him for His provision, trust Him in the present, and think on the great blessings coming to us in the coming kingdom.

Not too long ago, I went through some very serious experimental eye surgeries because of double vision that was causing havoc in my body. God did not heal the double vision. While some of the secondary symptoms went away, many new ones came up. As I spent months just lying in bed in pain, not seeing well, and experiencing near constant nausea and vertigo, it was easy to be discouraged at times, to say the least (many of these symptoms are still present). When my wife came home from work each day, she had me list out five to ten blessings of the day. They were very simple things, from being able to eat to being able to have a nap and get some rest. Of course, she was number one on the list until she decided she would put me to the test by not letting me count any of the blessings I had listed previously. It got harder and harder to think of other graces of God, but they were there. I just had to think harder and look deeper, even if it took awhile, which it sometimes did. I was alive, I had a roof over my head, I had a wife who loved me even though this happened months into our marriage, I had food to eat, and I had clothes on my back. Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:8, "If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content." Elsewhere, we read that he learned to be content in any circumstance (Philippians 4:11), and it was the constant presence of Christ which made his contentment possible (Hebrews 13:5). When I read these statements from Paul in the past, I kind of thought he must have been a super-Christian, the likes of which us normal-Christians could never be. Yet, given the suffering he went through, he had many chances to learn the contentment which he came to possess. As we go through suffering, the Lord points us toward the things we typically miss when things are easy and good. Yet thankfulness is a choice, and it is one that we need to make, counting our blessings even if they seem small, unfair, or ridiculous. Paul didn’t overlook the basics. In fact, he was happy to praise God if only he had the basics. We need his attitude of thankfulness for all things and in even the most dire and unfair of circumstances as Paul regularly faced.

We cannot let the daily blessings with which God showers us pass us by without giving Him credit. One of the first steps into spiritual decay is to refuse to give God thanks after experiencing His goodness and seeing His power manifested on our behalf (Romans 1:21). God has been faithful, and He always will be. Even when we lack faith, still He is faithful (2 Timothy 2:13). Great is His faithfulness, and His mercies are new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). Every day new mercies come our way. Every day God’s thoughts toward us are so numerous that they cannot even be counted (Psalm 139:17-18). So already we have more things to be thankful for than we can even name or count. We have "every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ" (Ephesians 1:3). Eternity in paradise is ours. When all else fails, God never fails, and His mercy, love, and kindness endure forever (Psalm 52:1).

There is so much to be thankful for, and so many blessings to count. In fact, if only we could see all that God does, we would have more mercies than we could ever account for. Let us not let the missiles of the devil knock us down such that we forget that we have Christ and the many blessings of God. We should never lose hope, and we should always have reason to be thankful. So what are you waiting for? Start counting!

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Mercy and not Sacrifice (Sept. 29, 2010)