By Gbemiga Olakunle
“Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving, and into His courts with Praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name.
” For the LORD is good; His Mercy is everlasting, and His Truth endureth to all generations”.- Psalm 100: 4-5, KJV.
Naturally, when we are comfortable and things are rosy and fine for us, it is easy to praise GOD and be thankful unto Him. But when things are going contrary to our expectations as individuals, families, Communities or even as a Nation, then it may be difficult for us to comply with the above Scripture.
But why should we obey this admonition?
The Psalmist provided us with further reasons in Psalm 103: 1-5, KJV and I quote:
“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.”
And so in view of the reasons provided by the above Scripture, we should still learn to thank GOD despite the economic downturn in our Nation and other related unpleasant situations that we may be passing through.
Another Scripture says that a living dog is better than a dead lion.
In a nutshell , as long as we still have our beings, let us learn to thank Him. And as we do so, the LORD will be compassionate unto us and turn the situations in our favour as individuals, Community and a Nation in JESUS Name.
The essence of life itself is ability to give thanks irrespective of what we are going through. That is essentially what is called sacrifice of praise. Praising God in not too pleasant times is when we are really bringing to God a sacrifice of praise.
like I stated earlier, anybody can praise God when things are going on well. Praise comes naturally during such times. But when things are not rosy, it becomes hard to say thank you Jesus. It takes a man who has been broken to come to a point of seeing God in all things.
God expects that we wear the lens of gratitude always irrespective of what we face. That makes a child of God different from an unbeliever. The born again child of God is not carried away by the things he gets from God rather he is always motivated to thank God just for who he is.
As God gives us the grace, I admonish that we make thanksgiving our lifestyle.
Nigeria is at a crossroads presently. The temptation is to always swear and curse our leaders for what we are going through. Some don’t really see why they should even pray to God concerning Nigeria. But the admonition of the Lord is that we should give thanks. Our situation is bad. Yet. But God says give thanks in all things.
Let us maintain an attitude of Thanksgiving for all that God is to us, who he is to us and what he is to us…let us.thank God for the nation Nigeria. We have no other country to run to. Let us cherish our nation and glorify God for what we have and for all our leaders.
Things are tough today, they won’t be rough forever. I am hopeful that as we thank God for all that he is and what he has done for us, our tanks will be filled with joy. Despondency will have no room in us. It shall be well with us.
Nogeria arise? Let’s wear the garment of praise
