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16 Come and hear, all you who fear God, and I will tell what he has done for me. 17 I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. 18 If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened. 19 But truly God has listened; he has given heed to the words of my prayer.20 Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his steadfast love from me. – Psalm 66:16-20
We know that our God is the God who listens to our prayers. How often do we celebrate that reality? It is easy for us to celebrate our prayers being heard and answered when we are in a time of great need or distress, for God is our help and our strength in those times of need. However, God is with us more than that, God is with us at all times. I know, even in my own prayer life, it is easy to give God thanks when I have overcome something trying, but I become more subdued in prayers when life is going well. Every once in a while, I need that reminder, that I should worship and praise God more for the good day, and should celebrate them more than the overcoming of the hard days.
The psalmist, above, has a story to tell. The story is how God has done wonderful things for the people of Israel, how God has led the people to a spacious place. There they offer what they have back to God in the form of burnt offerings. And in the closing lines, printed above, the psalm reminds us that we have plenty of God’s deeds that we can share. We have more stories of God’s goodness to us, and it should remind us that we are now the storytellers. We are the ones who get the grand opportunity to tell of God’s steadfast love towards us, in this generation, and to share it with the next.
We are coming up on some time that we might get to spend a little more time with family as the holiday season approaches. Perhaps as we gather around the table, giving thanks for each other, we also remember to give thanks for steadfast love of God that continues to move us forward, being bold enough to share our stories of faith and love so that our children, grandchildren, and all present may hear the goodness of God, and give Him praise.
Grace & Peace,
Sam