Remember the Benefits

Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. —Psalm 103:2

Can you remember a time God was angry at you? I can. The unveiling of His anger is the scariest thing under the sun. I know what is it is to receive a wake-up call from God. I know what it is to feel His “hot displeasure” (Ps. 6:1, KJV). It is a severe kind of chastening one does not want to experience. But I have, and I pray I will never be foolish enough to forget it.

Prosperity may have the consequence of making us forget. Good health is something many accept without thinking. A job, a place to work, having a good income are things one can begin to take for granted.

The message of this is: don’t forget to be thankful. Thank God for the air you breathe. Thank Him for sunshine. Thank Him for rain. Thank Him for food to eat. Thank Him for clothes, for a warm bed at night, and for shelter.

If God prospers you, He is putting you on your honor—to be thankful. And to show it. So tell Him!

David lists all the benefits: forgiveness for all his sins, the healing of all his diseases, redeeming his life from the pit, crowning him with love and compassion, satisfying his desires with good things, his youth being renewed like the eagle’s (Ps. 103:3-5).

One of the irrefutable evidences for the divine inspiration of the psalms is the repeated praises to God and admonition to praise. Only God could lead a human being to pen psalms like that. The most natural tendency in the world is to forget to be thankful.

Remembering can sometimes come to us without any effort—should God bring it to our attention. What God wants from us, however, is that we remember because we choose to remember.

Excerpted from Just Say Thanks! (Charisma House, 2005).