HOPE: Thankful for God's Provisions

Read: Psalm 147: 7-11

By Ashlee Anderson

The Christmas season brings with it a feeling of hope. As Webster puts it hope is “to cherish a desire with anticipation” or “to expect with confidence.” This time of year most children are putting their hopes in a jolly old man who flies all around the world in one night, slides down every chimney, eats thousands of cookies without getting full and there isn’t a doubt in their minds that it cannot
be done. Am I crazy to wish my faith were like that?

Often my heart wanders to places of want, especially during this season, and at the end of the day none of those unneeded requests will fill my soul's true desires. Reading today’s verse reminds me how much and how richly God already provides. I wake up and have breath in my lungs, two stable feet on the ground, hands to serve, a heart to love, eyes to see His beauty, and ears to hear the music God gives to the world. That is a miracle that I can celebrate more than just once a year. My hope is that our hearts would not lack in gratitude, in thanksgiving, in praise for the gifts God presents to each of us daily. To not take pause once a year and see His goodness but to “sing to the Lord with grateful praise” all the year long and to put our hope not in excessive wants but in God’s gracious, merciful, unfailing love.

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