Psalm 13:1 How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
    How long will you hide your face from me?

It struck me just now that this is the cry of a man who was used to hearing from God frequently. The thing is, when he got more comfortable in life as the undisputed king he stopped listening, and so went far afield with Bathsheba. I have heard it said that God likes to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Both are actually expressions of His loving grace. God allows trials in our lives to shake us up, to remind us how much we need Him, not because He is mean – which He certainly isn’t. Good parents need to give their children opportunities to fail, because without failures, they will fail to mature, and will never know the true satisfaction of successes. If we constantly hear God, we won’t grasp what a privilege it is to have the ear of the Creator of the universe. A feeling of entitlement is one of the greatest “joy thieves” in existence. The better we understand God’s grace, and that it is grace, the more grateful and joyful we will be. Dennis Prager says that he has never met a happy leftist, and I can agree. I genuinely feel sorry for those, in America of all places, who fail to recognize the abundance of blessings that are available to them, and instead, bad-mouth everything. Just yesterday I read the story of a woman who was born a slave and lived to 102, and in her recollections she talked exclusively about how good she had it. She and her family even chose to stay with their former master as his employees after emancipation. One thing that struck me about that account was that her master had consistently given them the opportunity to go to church with him every Sunday, not commanding but offering. It obviously did them all a lot of good!

I think my parents consciously raised us to be grateful, and it was one of the best things they could ever have done for us. At Christmas it wasn’t “everything’s from Santa,” but each gift was from an individual, and that individual was to be thanked. Gift opening always took a long time, because we took turns, with everyone watching as each present was opened. I remember being more excited to see how someone else responded to what I had chosen for them than I was about what I received. Today, I couldn’t begin to enumerate all the blessings I feel God has poured out on me. As I have commented, sometimes I worry about my faithfulness, if my cross is so light! It’s not that I have no problems, but I feel bathed in love and grace. And to top it off, my Heavenly Father meets with me every morning! I seek to help others realize that such a life is available to them, but most of the time they are too focused on other things to recognize the goodness of God. I am to maintain an attitude of gratitude, expressing my love for God by obedience to Him, so that His purposes for me may be fulfilled on His schedule, for His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I really don’t have words to express a proper response to You for Your goodness. May my life be an expression of gratitude and praise, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!