PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING (Psalm 119)

You are right and you do right, God; your decisions are right on target. (Psalm 119:137, MSG)

I taught children's Sunday school for 35 years. When it came to teaching about prayer, I often used the prayer hand: Prayer involves 1. Praise 2. Adoration 3. Confession 4.Pray for others 5. Pray for yourself.

Praise refers to talking about who God is. God is amazing, beautiful, Comforter, Desire of the Nations, eternal . . .

Thanksgiving refers to talking about what God does for us. God made the earth. He saved me. He held me during the days of pain this past week.

I've never seen it spelled out so clearly in the Bible. And the obvious conclusion: God does right because He is right. That means His will is right.

By God's will, I mean both His word--always right and true--as well as His will for my days, weeks, years. I can trust God to do the right thing with me because of who He is and what He does. He is never wrong. He has kept the universe spinning for thousands of years; I can trust Him with little ol' me.

Another verse that speaks of how God's actions toward us grow out of his character: In your love, listen to me; in your justice, keep me alive. (Psalm 119:149, MSG) Love and listening, justice and life..

So today let's think on the ways God IS right and the ways He DOES right.

Today's favorite verse: a Christian's answer to praying toward Mecca: Seven times each day I stop and shout praises for the way you keep everything running right. (Psalm 119:164, MSG) Hmm, I hear another devotional stompeding through my mind. . . think about the meaning of seven in the Bible.