The attitude of ungratefulness can not only be seen in the cartoons in the newspaper, but also in the lives of people.
WHAT AN UNGRATEFUL PEOPLE WE HAVE BECOME!
For example, if you have attended church very long you have experienced ingratitude.
• There are people who will attend church to get married. Once they are married it will take the FBI to find them.
• There are people who will use the church for funerals, but once the funeral is over with, they will not put a foot inside the church until the next funeral takes place.
• There are people who will come to church and ask for financial assistance, and after a church assists them they attend another church that has not done one thing to assist them.
This is an ungrateful society in which we live.
Illus: You can take your hard earned money and patronize some store to buy groceries for your family. In the process of buying food for your family, your patronizing this particular store provides jobs for the employees so they can buy food for their families. When you go through the checkout line to pay for the groceries, it is difficult to get a smile out of some cashiers, not to mention a “Thank you for trading with us!”
We live in a society that has very little gratitude. And one of the reasons we live in such a society may be because we preachers do not preach enough about gratitude.
Today let us look at verse 5, the foundation for this sermon on gratitude.
We read, “Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.”
In this foundational verse for this sermon we see...
A. HIS CONFESSION
As he ponders on his blessings, he confesses that they come from God.
He says, “Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done.”
God has done so much for us, but He receives so little credit for the great things he has done.
Illus: One of the things that the Republicans were angry about during the term of President Bill Clinton was the problem of where credit was given. Republicans would come up with programs like:
• WELFARE REFORM
• BALANCING OF THE BUDGET
• NAFTA
But once they proposed these things, then President Bill Clinton would go before the American people on national television and take all the credit for them. And the truth is, some of the things he took credit for, he used his presidential power to veto. But after they overrode his veto, things were passed.
But that is no different than a lot of folks today. God does all the blessing and they take all the credit.
People should be expressing gratitude all the time, but they have the same rotten attitude as Bart Simpson. They act as if everything they posses, and everything they have achieved in this life, was accomplished by pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps.
The fact is that in most cases they had very little to do with it.
Illus: These people make us think of the ant and the elephant that walked across the hanging bridge. The ant remarked to the elephant, "Boy, don't we make this bridge shake!"
People today are so proud of themselves. They want to make sure the spotlight stays on them. They are not even willing to share the spotlight with God.
Illus: A certain rich man who decided to take up fishing bought the most expensive equipment and bait, but he caught nothing. He passed by a farm boy who had an old stick and a rusty hook, who had a big string of fish. "How did you manage to catch so many, when I couldn't catch a single one?" he asked. "Oh," said the boy, "I try to keep out of sight so the fish won't see me. But I think you show yourself to them too much." (PULPIT HELPS, July, 1991)
This is the problem with so many people today. God can not use them because if he did they would take all the credit.
David knew who to give praise to, he said, “Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done,”
We looked at HIS CONFESSION, but also look at
B. HIS COUNTING
That is, the counting of the blessings of God in his life.
Illus: Sometimes we sing a song that says, “Count your blessings, name them one by one…” This is something we should not just sing about, but it is something we should do.
As David pondered on the blessings of God, it seemed as if he ran out of toes and fingers to count with. He said, they are “…more than can be numbered”
When David tried to COUNT his blessings, he realized that in his own life there were to many to be numbered.
But also, let’s look at-
C. HIS CONSCIOUSNESS
That is, David was conscious that God was doing some wonderful things in His life.
Notice, he refers to them as “wonderful works”.
Most folks do not realize how much God loves them, and how many wonderful things He has done for them.
Many times the disappointments that we face in life are no more than wonderful things God is doing in our lives.
Illus: When a parent tells a child they can not spend the night at someone’s house because they consider them to be bad company, ARE THESE PARENTS BEING UNKIND?
No, it is a wonderful thing that these parents are doing.
Many times God tells us we can not do certain things, and He is not being UNKIND, He is doing some wonderful thing in our life. That is, sometimes the great things He is doing in our life are a “No” instead of a “Yes” in our life.
Aren’t you glad that your loving parents did not let you do everything you wanted to do when you were young? If they had, most of us would have killed ourselves a long time ago.
He called the blessings of God, “Wonderful Works”. This comes from a grateful heart. The effects of gratitude in David’s life can be seen in two ways, such as:
I. DAVID PRAISES GOD
Notice, why David praises the Lord.
A. BECAUSE GOD HEARD
Look at verse 1, we read “...he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.”
Illus: Wouldn’t it be terrible to be somewhere in the forest, and have a tree fall and pin you down, and you could not free yourself. As you lay there, you scream and holler for help, but there is no one there to help you.
Aren’t you glad that as a Christian, God hears you when you cry out to Him?
David thanked the Lord for hearing his request.
(1) SOMETIMES THE PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED QUICKLY!
Look at Isa. 65:24, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”
(2) SOMETIMES THE PRAYERS ARE ANSWERED LATER!
Dan. 10:12,13a, “Then said he unto me, Fear not, Daniel: for from the first day that thou didst set thine heart to understand, and to chasten thyself before thy God, thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days...”
He praised God BECAUSE GOD HEARD, but also he praised Him -
B. BECAUSE GOD HELPED
Look at verse 2a, we read, “He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay.”
Illus: When catastrophes strike, such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes, it has become popular for people to start wearing “I survived…..” T-shirts.
They wear them in pride as if they had something to do with their survival.
But David knew how he got through the storms of life. David praises God that He HEARD HIM and HELPED HIM.
He acknowledged what God did for him in several ways, such as:
(1) GOD PUT SECURITY IN HIS LIFE
Look at verse 2b. We read that David said that God, “set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.”
We wonder sometimes if we are going to survive In the storms of life, but He sets our feet upon a rock.
That is, we are not like the lost world that does not have anything to hang onto. This is why they turn to drugs and alcohol. But we have the ROCK OF AGES to cling to in the midst of the storm.
GOD PUT SECURITY IN HIS LIFE, and also God helped him because-
(2) GOD PUT A SONG IN HIS LIFE
Look at verse 3a, “And he hath put a new song in my mouth,...” In Ephesians, Christians are instructed concerning singing.
Eph. 5:19, “Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.”
We have a song of JOY because we are now the Children of God. It is the Joy of the Lord in our hearts!
The effects of gratitude in David’s life can be seen as DAVID PRAISES GOD, but also as -
II. DAVID PLEASES GOD
Gratitude affects the whole person.
• WITH HIS VOICE, DAVID GAVE PRAISE
• WITH HIS LIFE HE PLEASED GOD
If you graciously do something for me, and I turn around and do something to displease you, I AM NOT GRATEFUL for what you did for me.
HOW DID DAVID PLEASE THE LORD? He pleased God in several ways, look at-
A. DAVID’S TRUST
Look at verses 4a, “Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust...”
God wants us to have our complete trust in Him alone.
Illus: A man named Steve Winger relates this story. On a recent ski trip, I saw to my surprise a blind person skiing. The blind skier, wearing a bright pink vest, stayed directly behind an instructor, listening for directions on how and when to turn. Over the next several days I saw many blind skiers, invariably following the person who gave them the information they needed to make it safely down the mountain. Abiding in Jesus means following him with complete trust, in the same way.
You see the Lord wants us to trust Him, because in doing so we are showing that HE IS GOD THE FATHER, and we are HIS CHILDREN.
God is not like some of these parents today who have switched roles with the children.
• In some families, the children have become the parents and they determine what church they will attend
• In some families, the children have become the parents and they determine what clothes they will wear and not wear
And if the parents do have anything to say to them, they are treated as if they just fell off the back of a turnip truck and do not know what they are talking about.
But God the Father does not switch roles with His children. When we put our trust in Him we are saying, “God you are our heavenly Father, and we are your children. We place our trust in you!”
DAVID’S TRUST pleased the lord, but also look at-
B. DAVID’S THANKSGIVING
Look at verse 5, “Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works...”
Again, it pleases God for us to be grateful. When we give to someone and they never say, “Thank you,” it lessens our desire to give again. They show no gratitude.
Look at verse 8, we read, “I delight to do thy will, O my God:...”
The effects of gratitude in David’s life can be seen as DAVID PRAISES GOD and DAVID PLEASES GOD.
Conclusion:
If you are grateful to God for Who He is, and for what He has done, you need to show it in all your life, just as David did.
The effects of gratitude in David’s life can be seen as:
I. DAVID PRAISES GOD
II. DAVID PLEASES GOD
