Because Your loving kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name
— Psalm 63:3–4
A hospital chaplain kept a record of 2,000 patients who were apparently in a dying condition and showed signs of repentance. But he noted that of those who were restored to health, only two showed a marked change in their spiritual lives after their recovery. In other words, when people thought they were dying, they remembered God, but when they recovered, they forgot about Him.
Maybe you have had a crisis recently, and it got your attention. Remember to call upon God. Remember to put your trust in Him. Far too often we ask God for help, but we don't give Him anything in return. What would you think of a person who was always asking for resources and favors, but never took time to thank you?
It is one thing to give thanks when things are going well. But we can also give thanks when things are not going well. Psalm 63, one of my favorite psalms, was written at a time when David was in exile in the wilderness, running from his son, Absalom, who wanted to take over his throne. David was an elderly man at this point. Yet in the midst of his anguish and personal pain, he wrote, "Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name" (verses 3–4).
Maybe you have had a crisis recently, and it got your attention. Remember to call upon God. Remember to put your trust in Him. Far too often we ask God for help, but we don't give Him anything in return. What would you think of a person who was always asking for resources and favors, but never took time to thank you?
It is one thing to give thanks when things are going well. But we can also give thanks when things are not going well. Psalm 63, one of my favorite psalms, was written at a time when David was in exile in the wilderness, running from his son, Absalom, who wanted to take over his throne. David was an elderly man at this point. Yet in the midst of his anguish and personal pain, he wrote, "Because Your lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise You. Thus I will bless You while I live; I will lift up my hands in Your name" (verses 3–4).
