Bountifully | Kiersti Giron

He huddles, perhaps in a cave, deep in the cold darkness of night. His men sleep sprawled around him, swords always at the ready. Bending by the small flickering flame of an oil lamp, on a clay tablet or bit of leather, he pours out his aching heart.

How long, O LORD?

Will You forget me forever?

How long will you hide Your face from me?

How long shall I take counsel in my soul,

Having sorrow in my heart all the day?

How long will my enemy be exalted over me?

Consider and answer me, O LORD my God,

Enlighten my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

And my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”

And my adversaries will rejoice when I am shaken.

David—the boy who slew Goliath, who ruled Israel as a man after God’s own heart, from whose line came the King of Kings. Yet what turmoil and despair he knew.

It’s so easy to forget that the psalms we know and love were written by real people, in real situations, in real heartache, to a God who was as real then as He is today. At least, it’s easy for me.

This past Sunday at church, the visiting preacher used Psalm 113 as his text. His topic was, “How Can We Sing and Be Thankful When Life Hurts?”

It’s Thanksgiving week, a time when, in theory, we ponder more than the rest of the year what we have to be thankful for. Yet this past weekend, the hardness of life pressed in on me more than it had for some time. It had been so for this preacher too. He shared that it was difficult for him, right now, to sing and be thankful in the midst of a very rough and uncertain season.

Yet we are commanded to, in the Bible our Lord has left us. How?

The sermon was packed full of nuggets, so many that I started writing them down before I forgot them all. But all boiled down to one answer.

Jesus.

Jesus is why we can always be thankful, no matter what happens, even if all our “worst case scenarios” were to come true. God has committed to love us in a covenant marriage relationship sealed by the redeeming blood and resurrection of His Son, who was forsaken by the Father so we wouldn’t have to be. Who sees the big picture of our hurts and heartaches in a way we can’t now, and may not until heaven. Who knows, and loves, and cares.

And as the preacher said, “Not one of Jesus’ disciples thought the cross was a good thing at the time.” Only later could they see the incredibility of what it meant, the indescribable good that came from the very worst case scenario in history. After seeing what God did there, he asked us, can we really tell the God of the cross that He doesn’t know what He is doing?

“But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness,” David continues. “My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the LORD, for He has dealt bountifully with me.”

Bountifully. What a “Thanksgivingish” word!

This Thanksgiving, I want my heart to rejoice in His salvation—for when I think about that gift, I should always be able to give thanks, no matter what else causes my heart or the world around me to weep.

When we look at Jesus, He has indeed dealt bountifully with us.

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