Practicing Continual
Radical Gratefulness
Psalm 23: 1
David,
the great biblical Poet-King, was not beyond asking God for anything. In Psalm
7:1, he asks God for protection and deliverance. In Psalm 26: 1, 12, his
request is for vindication and redemption. In Psalm 28: 9, David moves beyond
asking for himself to seeking salvation for the nation. Perhaps the most
anguished and glorious request of all is related in Psalm 51:10-12, when in the
wake of an act in which David was disloyal to that which was royal inside of
him, he pleads for God to, "Create in me a clean heart."
Yet, David's relationship with God went
beyond him always asking God for things. Notably, his momentous 23rd Psalm is
devoid of any request of Divinity. Indeed, there is a clue in the very first
verse that there will be no requests here. David writes, "I shall not want."
David's state of not-needing or
not-wanting is exemplary. In place of
constantly needing, we may substitute continual
radical gratefulness. To live continually grateful is to regularly and
intentionally feed our minds with thoughts of thankfulness. It is living with a
keener vision of the gifts in life, and the gift of life. To live this way is
not to look away from the trials of life, but to see that even in life's
trials, there is something to be thankful for. To practice continual radical
gratefulness is to learn to be thankful deliberately, no matter what.
From
a spiritual perspective, there is more to this matter. Continual radical
gratefulness repositions our relationship with God. It is very easy to have a
needs-only relationship with God. In this kind of spiritual relationship, we
are constantly asking God to do something for us. While it is valuable to view
God as our ultimate source, there is much to be said for desiring God's presence more than God's presents. One of the most powerful
benefits of enjoying God for God is the dissolving of needs. It is
in experiencing God for God's presence more than God's presents that something
wildly wonderful happens: we begin to realize we already have in lavish
portions all we truly need.
---Pastor Kirk