Sermon Title: Appreciating God
1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the LORD is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. 5 For the LORD is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.
There are some things that irritate me to no end – traffic; looking for a trash bag and realizing that there are no more; waiting for the NBA season to start and still waiting…(there should be a law that prevents millionaire basketball players from striking!). I also have a short fuse with people who commit to doing things and then don’t show up. I often wonder, why do people volunteer and then don’t follow through? Wouldn’t be better to NOT say that you are going to do something instead of having no follow-thru? I guess why this bothers me so much is because I have a bad habit of doing the same thing. I have the best of intentions when I volunteer, but often circumstances get in the way and then I don’t carry out my own commitments. As I get older, I’m breaking this habit, but I’m still not always faithful to carry out my commitments (or to remember them!).
God doesn’t have this problem. The psalmist reminds us of this, as he says, “His faithfulness continues to all generations.” God doesn’t forget us; He doesn’t work for us one day and then against us another day. There is no “falling out of love” with God; He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His grace and mercy continues to be extended to us every day of our lives. Of all the things that I am so very thankful for, I am most thankful for God’s faithfulness – He won’t leave me, He won’t so loving me and He won’t become “unfaithful.” Maybe that is what the writer of this hymn was thinking when he wrote this song:
Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father; There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest no; Thy compassions, they fail not. As Thou has been Thou forever wilt be. Great is Thy faithfulness! Great is Thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed Thy hand hath provided. Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
This coming Sunday we will talk about what we see when we are in fellowship with God – we see His desire to give us joy, His love that never changes, and His great faithfulness. As we see God for Who He really is, we can be truly thankful – in spite of whatever our circumstance may be. Hope to see you Sunday!
His compassions never fail. They are new every morning.
Lamentations 3:22-23
