Luke’s account of ten lepers who cried out to Jesus to heal them is an insightful story that helps us see how important thanksgiving is to our worship. [See Luke 17:15-18]
. . . Ten were cleansed; only one returned to give thanks.
Jesus emphasized the uncalled-for disparity between the many and the one: Where were the other nine?
The lesson is obvious. God does note when we take time to thank Him and when we don’t.
JERRY BRIDGES
If you’re like me, you have some awesome times of private worship to God, but you also have your fair share of ho-hum moments when you feel too tired or frustrated or rushed to put much energy into intentional, personal times of worship.
Here’s a thirty-one day devotional by Jerry Bridges I can heartily recommend as an aid for all of us: I Exalt You, O God: Encountering His Greatness in Your Private Worship.
In thirty-one short but meaningful chapters (days), Bridges offers a framework for you to learn more about one of these four attributes of God:
- his greatness
- his holiness
- his wisdom
- his love
He begins each day with a more specific breakdown of one of the attributes by retelling a Bible story or providing a personal example, then moves into a simple prayer, followed with a short series of verses rewritten in the first person for you to respond to God directly.
Excerpt from Day 22: A Mystery Too High
. . . God’s wisdom, however, is infinite; ours is finite. This absolute difference is one that I think we fail to grasp. We tend to assume we would understand if God would just explain. We don’t really believe that “his understanding no one can fathom” (Isaiah 40:28).
. . . Humility should be a hallmark of those who fear and worship God. To accept that God’s ways are often mysterious, that His wisdom is infinite and ours only finite, is an important expression of humility. Then we can say with David, “My heart is not proud, O LORD, my eyes are not haughty; I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me” (Psalm 131:1).Father in heaven, I praise and thank You for how Your wisdom and Your ways are so infinitely high and exalted and incomprehensible. You are truly God Most High!
“How awesome is the LORD Most High, the great King over all the earth!” Your “understanding has no limit,” and Your “greatness no one can fathom.” Psalms 47:2; 147:5; 145:3
By putting you more in touch with who God is through Christ (this book is thoroughly saturated in scriptural truths), you appreciate his love and grace more and more, overflowing naturally into a response of worship.
It takes you to the heart of who you’re designed to be: a person formed by God to declare his praise (Isaiah 43:21).
On Day 31, Bridges says,
My desire has been to help you develop such a view of God’s love that you can’t help but be motivated to fear and worship Him, to love others, and to wholeheartedly obey and serve Him.
I want you to experience joy in these responses and to grow in that joy more and more as you increase in the knowledge of His love.
My desire is that both you and I will be so overwhelmed by Christ’s love that it will indeed compel us to live not for ourselves but for Him.
An intense and intentional gaze at his grace and love can’t help but elicit renewed and delightful worship from every sincere heart.
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MY THANKS TO WaterBrook Multnomah
FOR THE REVIEW COPY OF THIS BOOK
Day 6 of . . .
