IN WORD The hearts of those who seek the Lord are often tentative and fretful. Why do we approach God this way? We’re not sure of how we’ll be received. We know He is loving, but we also know He is holy. We know He is near, but we also know He is utterly transcendent, completely different from what we can imagine. We know that He is light, but we also know that “clouds and thick darkness surround him” (Psalm 97:2).
Everyone who ever got a glimpse of Him really couldn’t explain it to others very well. The mystery is too great. So we sometimes seek God with a little fear or a little pessimism. We’re not sure what we’ll find on the other side of the mystery.
Psalm 105 gives us other instructions. Yes, He’s mysterious, shrouded in transcendence, incomprehensible in His holiness. But we can still approach Him with joy. We can rejoice because we know that everything He does is good. It may be hard and it may be confusing, but it will be good. God never spurns those who approach Him with an elementary understanding of who He is.
How does this help us? Our natural tendency, like Adam and Eve, is to hide from God. We don’t necessarily sit behind bushes hoping He won’t discover us, but mentally we’re not entirely open to Him. We dress up our prayers to sound right to His ears, we dress up our deeds to appear worthy before Him, and we dress up our worship to appeal to His glory.
IN DEED In doing so, we sometimes hide things. We don’t come to Him boldly, as the writer of Hebrews encourages us to do (Hebrews 4:16). We’re spiritual actors when we don’t need to be. We underestimate His mercies. We’re not quite sure who He is.
La gratitud nos recuerda que nunca debemos subestimarle. Nos recuerda lo que Él ha hecho, lo que ha perdonado y lo que ha prometido. Reconoce quién es Él. Y nos envía a Su presencia con alegría.
“The best way to show my gratitude to God is to accept everything, even my problems, with joy.”—Mother Teresa
Additional Reading: Psalm 105:1-7; Hebrews 4:16
Stay tuned Thanksgiving week 2025 for a devotional thought on thankfulness every day!
You can also follow us on social media to keep up to date with more Walk Thru the Bible resources all year long!
Hay una oración nacida de la adoración que se centra totalmente en la misión de Dios y en Sus propósitos en este mundo. Es una oración que ve nuestras necesidades como Su escenario, con una meta más alta que nuestra propia satisfacción. Es una oración que le honra.
Leer más
Abrir la Biblia y escuchar la voz de Dios no tiene nada de mundano. Debería suscitar en nosotros una emoción, una alegría y un sentido de celebración tales que, en comparación, un acontecimiento deportivo pareciera aburrido y trivial. ¿Por qué? Porque la Biblia trae alegría.
Leer más
¿Sabías que Dios es cantante? ¿Por qué habría de sorprendernos? Él nos creó para cantar; es de esperar que Él mismo tenga alguna experiencia en ello. Sí, el Señor de toda la creación canta. Eso desafía nuestra imagen del Dios de rostro congelado, siempre decepcionado y de grandes expectativas.
Leer más