Because of Who You Are!

Some years ago Sandi Patty recorded a song entitled "Because of Who You Are."  It was a musical message of praise to God for being everything to all people.  I recently stumbled across my old cassette tape of the song (and yes, I still have my old cassettes) and was reminded of the simplicity of that message.  Too often, we think that praising our God should only happen when He has done something great for us, performed some miracle in our life, or in some way demonstrated His prompt response to our calls.  What happened in our hearts that prevents us from praising Him because He is the one true Almighty God of the universe?  Could anything deserve greater praise than that?

There is an advertisement currently playing on national television for a major amusement park here in the South.  It starts with a family piling into their car and the young son exclaiming, "Hey, everyone.  What's taking you so long?"  His mother gently chastises his impatience with a calm, "Come on... he's your grandpa," as an elderly man makes his way down a flight of stairs and approaches the car.  The ad goes on to show the progression of their day at the amusement park in which the grandfather is enjoying the rides and adventures to be had, side by side with that grandson.  At the close of the ad, as they walk along one of the thoroughfares in the park, the boy suddenly turns to his grandfather, wraps his arms around the old man's legs, and gives a mighty squeeze of affection.  The grandfather looks down and asks, "What's that for?"  The boy replies, "Because you're my grandpa!" 

Too often in life we become impatient with God when He fails to answer our prayers in the ways we would choose or the time we desire.  We're tempted to ask, "Hey, what's taking You so long!"  Yet, we would all be far better off to recognize that our Lord's timing is always perfect, His answers are always the best, and (most importantly) HE IS ALMIGHTY GOD!  If we could wrap our minds around His sovereignty and love for us perhaps we would be more apt to wrap our hearts around Him in praise and thanksgiving for who He is.

About a year ago a young family I know lost their home and everything they owned to a devastating fire, but they were all able to escape the flames safely.  Every week I attend classes with a young man who was born with cerebral palsy and a crooked spine that keeps him in constant pain every day of his life, but he preached his first sermon at eight years of age and hasn't stopped proclaiming the Good News of Jesus since.  Just the other day I watched a television report that showed a small child sticking his head beneath a stream of water pouring from a newly dug well in his village on the other side of the world.  This child had already lost four of his siblings to disease because the village had no clean drinking water available.  A missionary project had dug this new well and, although the child had no cup to drink from, that little boy was reveling in the precious gift of clean water.

Each year America sets aside a national day of Thanksgiving wherein we gather as family and friends and issue a word or two of thanks in an obligatory manner to God for all His blessings bestowed on us.  I wonder if God wouldn't be willing to forfeit that national day of obligation for just one or two quietly whispered words of thanks and praise that emanate sincerely from the hearts of His children.  When we are tempted to forget His mercies, we need to look around and begin making a written list of everything we own... homes, cars, clothing, household goods, and the list goes on.  We should be praising Him every morning for the ability to rise up from our beds under our own power and go about doing the things we choose to do without limitation or pain.  We should lift a glass of clean water heavenward and shout praise to the One who has provided it that we might live.

We will surely face challenges in this lifetime, but if you are able to read this blog you are already blessed far and above most of this planet's population.  Why do we complain so when God doesn't respond like some cosmic vending machine to all our demands?  What has happened in our hearts to make us forget the innumerable mercies that come from His hand?  Why do we continue to ask for more when we've neglected to say "thank you" for what we've already been given?  Take some time today to praise Him because of who He is.  Wrap your arms around him and proclaim with joy, "Because You are my God!"

"Praise the Lord!  Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power!  Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!  Praise Him with trumpet sound; praise Him with lute and harp!  Praise Him with tambourine and dance; praise Him with stringed and wind instruments or flutes!  Praise Him with resounding cymbals; praise Him with loud clashing cymbals!  Let everything that has breath and every breath of life praise the Lord!  Praise the Lord!"

(Psalm 150)