Count Your Blessings

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Scripture: Psalm 77:11-12 (NRSV)

11  I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord;

I will remember your wonders of old.

12  I will meditate on all your work,

and muse on your mighty deeds.

 

Devotion:

          The world today seems to be mindful only of grievances, oppression, and victimhood. We have created a modern secular worldview that has only two categories the oppressors and the oppressed. Each person claims their own victimhood and demands redress for all the wrong he or she claims to have suffered at the hands of society. While I do not deny that this world is not yet free from oppression and other forms of evil. It does seem like an error to fixate on the bad and not to see the good that also exists in the world today.

          The psalmist in the verses above says that we should remember all the good our God has done for us. The writer of this psalm calls his audience to remember all the wonderous deeds that God had done in Israel’s history. From the very creation of the world and humankind to God’s mighty act of deliverance from slavery in Egypt. The psalmist would have the children of Israel rejoice in the goodness of the Lord.

          Christians can look back and see how God has been good to us. The self-giving love displayed in the birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. We remember with grateful hearts the salvation that Jesus won for us. We also remember the gift of the Holy Spirit given to all believers giving us the power to live our lives empowered to serve our God. We as Christians are urged to rejoice even when we face various trials, persecutions, and hardships. We know that these sufferings are temporary, and that God has not utterly forgotten us. Even in death we are victorious therefore we should not fear it. We, as Christians, have a hope in the return of Jesus to set the world back to its pre-fall state.

          We have much to be grateful for. God has granted us many blessings. No matter what trouble the world may hand us we should remember the lyrics to the old hymn “Count Your Blessings” by John Oatman Jr.:

When upon life’s billows you are tempest-tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

·         Refrain:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God has done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
*Count your many blessings, see what God has done.

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