Hammer on Anvil '

Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy Name! (Psalm 103:1).

We just celebrated our national day of giving thanks. I wonder how many of us took the time to ponder the immeasurable blessings that have been poured out upon us by our heavenly Father. And I'm not talking about all the wonderful tangible blessings like treasured relationships.

God has blessed me with family, friends, mentors and mentees, and staggering ministry opportunities. I never cease to be humbled by the responsibility He seems to think I can take on. Beyond that, He has blessed my husband and me materially; we live in a nice home that He has enabled us to expand to meet the needs of people who come to stay with us on a fairly regular basis.

But even if I didn't have all these tangible blessings -- even if I lived alone in a tiny apartment and had no children or grandchildren, and very few material possessions, I have reason to bless the Lord as long as there is breath in me. Why? Because Jesus has delivered me from death! Ephesians 2:6 says, "God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms" (emphasis mine). Think about that for a minute. We know that Jesus sits at the very right hand of God, and this Scripture states that we are seated right there with Him! Folks, if we had nothing else in our lives for which to give thanks, this one thing should keep us singing for all eternity.

I have a confession to make. For as long as I can remember, I have struggled with anger. Through lots of reading and sound counsel, I have learned that anger is often a defense mechanism when somebody lives in fear. That explains how it all started with me; my mother was very physically and emotionally abusive, and I remember waking up in the morning fearful of what sort of mood she might be in.

Because of the abuse, I had virtually no self-esteem growing up, which led to abuse in other venues -- most notably when a church deacon molested me. Other things happened, too, but it is not necessary to mention them all. Suffice it to say that many things have occurred in my life that would appear to justify my anger.

Now, though, my life is such that I have no legitimate reason to be angry. Yet anger from the past oftentimes rears its ugly head, and it is a constant battle to exercise 2 Corinthians 10:5 and take my thoughts captive to the obedience of Christ. I have to remind myself regularly to "Bless the Lord, oh my soul." And I am discovering that as I lift my voice in praise to Him, anger dissipates. It is slowly losing its hold on my life, and I covet your prayers that one day it will be completely gone.

If you are given to anger or a critical spirit, or if you find yourself complaining a lot, I encourage you to begin incorporating this Scripture into your life -- a hundred times a day if necessary. When you are tempted to lose control, take a deep breath, focus on God, and say, "Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy Name!" In this Psalm, David commanded his soul to praise the Lord -- leading us to believe that he did not feel like praising the Lord. But we are not to be ruled by our emotions. Oswald Chambers says, "Take yourself by the scruff of the neck and shake off your incarnate laziness," and that is precisely what we need to do when it comes to being formed in the image of our Creator.

This week, begin by making a list of everything for which you are thankful -- most notably the gift of Jesus Christ, who has redeemed your soul from death. Ask Him to give you a thankful heart, and begin to praise Him. Though many ugly things have happened in my life over which I had no control, and I myself have done things I am not proud to admit, I echo John Mark McMillan's wonderful sentiment: "I don't have time to maintain these regrets when I think about the way that He loves us" (from "How He Loves").