Tuesday, November 22, 2022

Listen to the Word

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 100:4-5)

This week's Scripture uses an interesting image to talk about giving thanks to God. It doesn't simply say, "give thanks to God." Specifically, it tells us to enter God's gates with thanksgiving, and to enter his courts with praise. It tells us that thankfulness should be what marks our approach to God - it should be what we bring with us into our encounter with him.

I don't know about you, but I tend to enter God's gates with a list of things I want him to do for me. My prayer usually begins with making requests of God. Of course it is completely appropriate to ask God for things - he invites us to do that. But Psalm 100 indicates that "gimme" is probably not the healthiest place to begin with God. We should approach him with gratitude. We should enter his gates with thanksgiving.

Live the Word

Each time you talk to God for the rest of this week, seek to begin the conversation with an expression of gratitude to God.