Feeling Better

When I got out of bed on November 18, 2009, I felt much better than I had in about a week.

I was no longer dragging around while feeling the need to return to bed. My stuffiness was nearly gone, and I wasn’t coughing every few minutes. My thinking seemed sharper, and I noticed a difference in the way I sounded when people called to check on me. My voice sounded like mine again, and I was able to kid around some instead of describing my flu-like symptoms. 

As I thanked God for healing me, I thought about one of the psalms (songs) of praise David had written many centuries ago. In it (Psalm 103), David says that the Lord “heals all my diseases…” (vv.3b, 4).

However, David praises and thanks God for far more than physical healing. For example, he says, “Praise the LORD, I tell myself; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, I tell myself, and never forget the good things he does for me.

      

“He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases….He fills my life with good things. My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!” (Psalm 103:1-4).

      

Although David’s list goes on, it doesn’t contain all that God does for him. No list can do that!

      

David also gives thanks for what God is like. “The LORD is merciful and gracious; he is slow to get angry and full of unfailing love…The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate toward those who fear him. For he understands how weak we are…” (vv. 8-14).

      

Because of who God is and what He does for us, may you and I say, as David did, “As for me—I, too, will praise the LORD” (Psalm 103:22).

      

Even if the Lord doesn’t do everything we asked Him to, we can still praise and thank Him for all that He does do, can’t we? After all, He doesn’t have to grant our every wish any more than an earthly father must do everything his children ask him to do for them.

When God says “No” to a request, it doesn’t mean He can’t fulfill it. Neither does it mean He doesn’t love us enough to grant our request.

So, let’s continue to thank Him for all the ways He cares for us and trust He will act on our behalf—in His time and in accordance with His plan.

Copyright © 2009 by Johnnie Ann Burgess Gaskill, www.jgaskill.com. Scripture quoted is from the New Living Translation.