“Bless the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy Name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits. Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.” – Psalms 103:1-5, KJV.
The Psalmist through the above Scripture has reeled out reasons for us to praise and bless the Name of the LORD. He concluded this first set of reasons in Verse 22 of the quoted Scripture when he admonished “…all His (GOD’S) works in all places of His dominion ..” to bless His Name.
And the Psalmist is not done yet. He continued to count his blessings and praise the LORD in the next four Chapters of 104, 105, 106, and 107.
As the end of this year is fast approaching, we too as individuals, families, Communities, and even as a Nation are being admonished to look back and ponder on what the LORD has done for us as we begin to count our blessings.
Some of us may not have achieved our goals and targets for the year nor be where we envisaged to be, yet GOD has kept us and our families with the hope that things will still get better even before the end of the year.
Some have survived near-fatal domestic and auto accidents. GOD has healed us and kept us from seen and unseen dangers. He has also revealed the secrets and identities of some unfriendly friends to us. For all these and many more, we need to thank GOD irrespective of whatever situations we may find ourselves in.
Furthermore, as a Nation, we should continue to thank GOD. As we do so, GOD will touch the hearts of our Leaders to do His Perfect Will and deal squarely with the lingering issues of insecurities and abject poverty that have been buffeting us in this country for almost 2 decades now.
With this attitudinal change of thanking GOD for our current situations at micro and macro levels, GOD will still whatever storms that we may be passing through and make things much better for us. And thus making our joy to be full in JESUS’ Name.
Succinctly speaking, our individual, community, or national challenges have expiry dates. And they shall soon expire in JESUS’ Name.
Shalom!
‘ Gbemiga OLAKUNLE, JP is the General Secretary of National Prayer Movement
