A Sincere Thank You
I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds.
Psalm 9:1
In preparation for Xavier’s first job interview, my husband, Alan, handed our son a pack of thank-you cards for him to send out after he met with prospective employers. He then pretended to be a hiring interviewer, using his decades of experience as a manager to ask Xavier questions. After the role-playing, our son tucked several copies of his resume into a folder. He smiled when Alan reminded him about the cards. “I know,” he said. “A sincere thank-you note will set me apart from all the other applicants.”
When the manager called to hire Xavier, he expressed gratitude for the first hand-written thank-you card he’d received in years.
Saying thanks makes a lasting impact. The psalmists’ heartfelt prayers and grateful worship were preserved in the book of Psalms. Though there are one hundred and fifty psalms, these two verses reflect a message of thankfulness: “I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and rejoice in you; I will sing the praises of your name, O Most High” (Psalm 9:1-2).
We will never be able to finish expressing our gratitude for all God’s wonderful deeds. But we can start with a sincere thank you through our prayers. We can nurture a lifestyle of grateful worship, praising God and acknowledging all He’s done and all He promises He’ll do.
By Xochitl Dixon
REFLECT & PRAY
Generous and loving God, please help us acknowledge the countless and wonderful ways You work.
What would you like to thank God for on this day He’s made? How can writing down prayers of thanks help us cultivate a spirit of gratitude in all circumstances?
SCRIPTURE INSIGHT
Psalms 9 and 10 may have originally been a single acrostic poem in Hebrew in which alternating lines begin with successive letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Unlike other laments (a prayer or poem of deep sorrow for the hardships and difficulties of life), these psalms begin with deep confidence and praise to God. Even in the midst of the trials, the author recognizes that God has done wonderful things and the proper response is to give thanks, spread the news of those deeds, and rejoice and sing praises to His name (9:1-2).
We see in Psalm 9 a lesson in perspective. Not only has God performed grand things like delivering His people from Egypt, sustaining them in the wilderness, and giving them the Promised Land, but His deeds are personal as well. God shows His goodness and unfolds His plan in both grand and personal ways. J.R. Hudberg
We see in Psalm 9 a lesson in perspective. Not only has God performed grand things like delivering His people from Egypt, sustaining them in the wilderness, and giving them the Promised Land, but His deeds are personal as well. God shows His goodness and unfolds His plan in both grand and personal ways. J.R. Hudberg
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