Gratitude shapes the fire and the rain

Norah Summers October 11, 2022 0 1

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Psalm 66: 1-12 (NRSVA)

1 Make a joyful noise to God, all the earth;
2     sing the glory of his name;
    give to him glorious praise.
3 Say to God, ‘How awesome are your deeds!
    Because of your great power, your enemies cringe before you.
4 All the earth worships you;
    they sing praises to you,
    sing praises to your name.’Selah

5 Come and see what God has done:
    he is awesome in his deeds among mortals.
6 He turned the sea into dry land;
    they passed through the river on foot.
There we rejoiced in him,
7     who rules by his might for ever,
whose eyes keep watch on the nations—
    let the rebellious not exalt themselves.Selah

8 Bless our God, O peoples,
    let the sound of his praise be heard,
9 who has kept us among the living,
    and has not let our feet slip.
10 For you, O God, have tested us;
    you have tried us as silver is tried.
11 You brought us into the net;
    you laid burdens on our backs;
12 you let people ride over our heads;
    we went through fire and through water;
yet you have brought us out to a spacious place.

“Count your blessings,

count them one by one,

and it will surprise you what the Lord has done!” (From the hymn Count Your Blessings)

Sing praise to God, for he has done wonderful things.

That is the easy bit.

But here in the midst of all this praise

and enumeration of good things

is a little verse which says

things don’t always go according to plan.

Bad things happen.

Hard times come.

There are many references in Scripture to the idea of the refining fire –

the testing time,

the trial to be got through,

before we can look back in gratitude.

PRAYER:

Loving God,

we praise you in gratitude

for your goodness and mercy.

But — we still have our times of doubt,

of facing trouble,

of wondering why,

of seeing no clear way ahead.

But again — we are not alone,

and we thank you for all your people

with whom you have surrounded us

to take our hand,

encourage us,

and set us on our way again.

Thank you for the Psalmist,

who shows us that troubles and doubts

have aye been –

and still tells us to sing.