Psalm 103:2 “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of His benefits;”

It was morning, but the dawns early light had yet to peak out over the bows of the trees or the gentle waters of the lake. A smattering of various alarms went off, disturbing the early morning quiet. The birds came out of their nests and began warming up for their daily concert. Yet for a moment, nature’s choir was interrupted briefly by the gathering of a small group of people. Every age from school to retirement could be found in the pre-dawn prayer gathering. Prayer began with each person at first silently meditating on God and His wonders. Then the group joined together in corporate worship.

Prayer continued and the birds again struck up their chorus. For some few minutes, the songs of men and nature were joined together to worship and magnify the Creator while the rest of the people in the camp slept, oblivious to the praises which rose with the sun.

The Lord provides each of us with special blessings and special gifts every day. We only need to observe or understand them; a blessing from God could be as simple as listening to a bird chirp or even a chorus of birds singing a glorious counterpoint to a dusty old hymn sung in the early morning air. God gives freely to all, giving what we need to be encouraged, giving us what is opportune to show us more of Him, and giving us a momentary glimpse of perfection (James 1:17).

The only thing God wants back from us is us. We then worship Him out of the fullness of His gifts to us. We worship with our gifts of health (or lack thereof), with our gift of breath, a gift of solitude can lead us to further understanding, and a gift of fellowship can lead us to greater love and mercy. We can even worship Him out of our gift of salvation and renewed holiness. Our worship blesses the Lord. He does what He does for us out of love. When we respond and we adore Him, He is pleased. If we come before the Lord in true worship, how then are we able to forget what He has done for us? How can we ignore His gifts to us? How can we scorn Him by praising Him, but not sharing Him? If God is God, He is more than capable of being shared with everyone! We cannot forget the very nature of God if we are to truly worship Him; when we worship the Lord in spirit and truth we are able to bless God. We are able to exalt Him and Magnify Him. We are able to bring Him glory. If we are thus enabled to return some of what He provides, then we too can join with the psalmist in verse one and say “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name.”

Begin, my tongue, some heavenly theme

And speak some boundless thing;

The mighty works, or mightier Name

Of our eternal King.