Month of Thanksgiving - Day 25

詩篇 103:1-5

1 我的心哪，你要稱頌耶和華；凡在我裡面的，也要稱頌他的聖名！2 我的心哪，你要稱頌耶和華，不可忘記他的一切恩惠。3 他赦免你的一切罪孽，醫治你的一切疾病。4 他救贖你的命脫離死亡，以仁愛和慈悲為你的冠冕。5 他用美物使你所願的得以知足，以致你如鷹返老還童。

詩篇103篇是詩人大衛著名的感恩詩，是歷代選民與教會喜愛誦唱的詩歌；因為他不單是大衛的感恩，在這詩篇中，我們不單找到了共鳴，也多少受到了一些提醒。

詩人一再的對他自己的心說話，提醒「他」不要忘記神的恩惠。我們這個天然人，是一個善忘的活物。順境的時候，一切似乎都是我們努力的成果，我們會忘記了感恩，甚至認為不需要感恩；逆境的時候，困苦、缺乏、挫敗、寃屈抓住我們整個人，甚至產生了埋怨和不信，让我们忘记了感恩！這「善忘的心」需要被提醒和勸勉，而我們需要的恰恰是如大衛一般，渴望被神帶到一個屬天的生命和境界，跳出眼前的環境，想到祂已經為我們所成就的一切，對著自己的心說，要感恩，要感恩！

其實,這忘記了感恩，並非純粹是記憶力的問題，更是心態的問題。感恩，需要我們在生活中，花時間操練的。無論我們的環境有多難，心裏有多軟弱，起來，對自己的心說：你要稱頌耶和華，發出感恩的言語。不要等到明天，也不要等到下個感恩節，從今天，就開始學習感恩吧！

Psalm 103:1-5

1 Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name! 2 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits: 3 Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, 4 Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, 5 Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Psalm 103 is a famous thanksgiving psalm of David, an all-time-favorite psalm by churches and God's children throughout ages. Not only do we resonate with David's gratitude in this psalm, but also we find valuable reminders from it.

Several times in this psalm did the David say to his own heart to bless the Lord and not forget God's grace. We as human being can all be forgetful. When things go well, we tend to give credits to our own efforts and can hardly think of giving thanks. When difficulties come, we easily become overwhelmed by frustration and self-pity, which in some cases will even make us complain and disbelieve in God. Indeed, our forgetful hearts need to be reminded and encouraged to always be grateful. By prayers let's all turn our eyes from our current situations to the spiritual reality that God has made the salvation perfect for us. Just as David did, let's tell our hearts to bless the Lord, bless the Lord!

It's not really that we "forget" being thankful, but that we are not born to be grateful naturally. Therefore we need to practise thanksgiving in our daily life. No matter how difficult our days are and how much we've suffered from our weakness, let's learn to tell our hearts to bless the Lord and pour out our gratitude to God. Don't wait till next Thanksgiving and don't wait till even tomorrow, starting from today, let's all learn to be grateful!