Thought for the Day 20/01/2021 It's amazing what praising can do (Psalm 104)

AUDIO

We've been wrestling with the implications of coronavirus for what feels like ages, the weather is rough, the days are short ... it's common at times like this to be feeling lethargic and low. If that's you, you are NOT on your own!

We're learning that self-care's more important than brushing your teeth ... but what does that self-care need to look like. More chocolate bars certainly doesn't seem to cut it ...

So here comes the Thought for such a Day as we're having:

In Psalm 104 the anonymous author goes looking all around himself for the things that he really ought to praise God for.

That's a useful example in itself, because all too often it seems there's little enough in ourselves or in our little lives to find cheer in, or find 'items' to be shouting God's praise for ... we need to deliberately look up and outside our selves in order to be able to do this 'praise' thing, which turns out to be so good for our inner being.

The psalmist deliberately turns his eyes and looks to 

• God's character 
• God's creation 
• God's provision of fruitfulness of the earth and of food 
• His created world's rich biodiversity 
• and God's giving of life to us all

You can't even grizzle unless you're alive. If  you are grizzly, you have a life to be grateful for, which is a GOOD thing however it gets painted for us. Might this be the time to give thanks that we can even breathe out and in? 

But HANG ON!

It's not his OWN life and its' circumstances 

the Psalmist gives thanks for ... 

Our OWN lives on earth can be challenging and we may need all SORTS of help with that. There may be NOTHING we can see in our lives to be happy about.

(Get in touch with any things our prayer team can start praying about for you using the contact form).

And that is really the key to what we are shown here.

It is GOD's life, His character which controls how He deals with us and God's glory not his own that the Psalmist can realistically rejoice and be glad about.

So here's the take away from Psalm 104 today:

We all need those moments when we can get out of our own little life.

This Psalm shows us how to do better than that 

... not just how get away from our little life for a while but how to live our life while truly transcending it.

What we're being shown in this psalm is an example of how to go to the place where thanksgiving and praise become the care and the cure for our soul.

And here's the challenge:

Let's make this our regular discipline of self-care 

... as essential as brushing our teeth.