“Count your blessings”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Friday, April 19, 2024
Psalm 105:23-45 (Forward, p. 81) CEV p. 619
An old gospel song contains has the chorus, ‘Count your blessings, name them one by one; count your blessings, see what God hath done; count your blessings, name them one by one; count your many blessings, see what God hath done”, and surely this is good advice for all of us.
In effect, this is exactly what today’s psalm advises as well. Just look, for instance, at its opening words:
“Praise the Lord and pray in his name! Tell everyone what he has done. Sing praises to the Lord! Tell about his miracles. Celebrate and worship his holy name with all your heart” (verses 1-3).
Trust the Lord and his mighty power. Remember his miracles and all his wonders and his fair decisions” (verses 4-5).
Verses 23-45 go on to describe one of the more epic examples of this, the set of circumstances that actually defined Israel, gave it its identity and set it on its path into the future. Here I speak of the plagues in Egypt, the Exodus, Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness and its entry into the Promised Land. Such is this as the pivotal event in Israel’s history that it is still celebrated and remembered in its yearly Passover festival.
So, apart from the fact that this event from history has defined and shaped the Jewish people, why is it so important to remember it, and indeed, to count their many blessings? Here our psalmist is most explicit:
-it should move them to praise God and glorify His name.
-it should prompt them to tell others about Him.
-it should encourage them to trust God more fully and to go to God
In prayer.
-it should stimulate their obedience to His laws.
So, what about us? Are we, you and I, in the practice of remembering what God has done, of ‘counting our many blessings’? An author I read a while back started the discipline of starting a ‘blessings’ journal where she would endeavour to jot down just one blessing every single day. At first, she had
trouble limiting it to just one daily blessing, as she was astounded by all the blessings she’d been receiving: her health, her home, her church, her family and friends, and even those things we take for granted like food or a heating system or an automobile that works. And this was without even mentioning what God had done in Christ Jesus or with the Jewish people or in history since then. And, certainly, what this discipline did was to prompt her to be more faithful in praising God and going to Him in prayer. I would think that this would be a useful exercise for each of us.
Forward notes: “He opened the rock, and water flowed, so the river ran in dry places” (verse 41).
“The people with Moses miraculously and dramatically receive water from a rock after he strikes the rock with his staff (Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:11). There have been times when I have felt the need for a significant change and wanted something dramatic to enable that change. I have prayed in desperation for a dramatic sign of a new direction. And sometimes, I’ve wanted God to open the rock for water to gush out.
“It never happens that way. I’ve looked everywhere for water flowing impossibly from a rock. But later in the day or several days, weeks, or even months after that prayer, I look back, and remember. A friend or family member has stepped into the breach. I had the opportunity to help someone. A new friend appeared in my life. I made a significant decision and began to enact it. I joined a community group I’d been reluctant to try. I saw a sunset so brilliant that the colours remained, even in the dark. God opened the rock and water flowed through the dry places.”
Moving Forward: “Have you experiences water flowing out from the rock?”