First Things First
A few months back, I began a journey seeking to be grateful in all circumstances. It hasn’t been easy, but it’s been super helpful and insightful. I’ve noticed that I’m less self-centered and more aware of other people’s needs. I’m also more aware of God’s Presence in my life. He is good and His faithfulness endures through all generations.
Noah and his family spent a few years preparing for the great flood and then they spent just over a year on the boat with all the animals and their families. This morning I was reminded of just what a crazy year in the life of Noah that must have been. The best I can calculate, they got in the boat around mid-February and came off the boat early March the next year. I grew up on the farm and I know that farm animals do smell a bit. Even human’s smell after working with the animals. I loved how when Noah and his family are coming off the boat, the first thing he does is offer a sacrifice to the Lord. It’s like he falls to his knees in gratitude that he and his family survived this hard season. Check this out…
18 So Noah came out, together with his sons and his wife and his sons’ wives.19 All the animals and all the creatures that move along the ground and all the birds—everything that moves on land—came out of the ark, one kind after another.
20 Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and, taking some of all the clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings on it. 21 The Lord smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: “Never again will I curse the ground because of humans, even thoughevery inclination of the human heart is evil from childhood. And never again will I destroy all living creatures, as I have done.
22 “As long as the earth endures,
seedtime and harvest,
cold and heat,
summer and winter,
day and night
will never cease.”(Genesis 8:18-22 NLT)
I love Noah’s posture before the Lord – He is grateful. I believe that the Lord loves it when I come before Him in gratitude. I don’t want to ever take for granted the Lord’s Presence with me and His favor over me. I want to notice the tiniest stuff that He does or protects me from. I want to start each day with a heart of gratitude to Him for His Presence in my life and His Provision, as well as His Protection over my life. I don’t always understand the things He does or doesn’t do, but I have learned to trust His heart above all else. Gratitude is a matter of trust and faith in God for Who He is and all that He has done and is doing. It’s very healthy to start each day and end each day with a grateful heart.
Pressing On!
Dwayne