This is most likely going to be a short read but let's see how far we can go.
Just in case you're not familiar with Jedidiah, that's the name God gave the little kid at birth but his parents decided to stick with Solomon (for reasons best known to them. Solomon means “Peace" though). His name must have been pivotal to his peaceful rule seeing that he never fought any battle. Someone said he made an in-law out of his enemies🤣. (If you plan to fight him, he'll just marry your daughter. Ask the king of Egypt during his time). However, with the kind of wisdom God gave him, he could have avoided war through another means order than getting married to the daughters of his enemies.
King Solomon, the man with a thousand wives! (I doubt if Jedidiah would have married so many wives; if you know what I mean). That's not why we're studying him though. And no, there's no lesson to draw from his having several wives. Well, maybe there is. We'll cross that bridge when we get there.
I'm writing this just with one intention and one lesson. However, let me give a backstory to this great man whom God gave a blank cheque.
He is the second child of Bathsheba and the 10th son of David. Same Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite whom David slew at the battlefront (that's story for another day).
Anyways, the first child died because of the sin of David (read 2 Sam. 12:1-24)
In verse 24 of same 2 Sam. 1, we see that God loved Solomon from birth and God gave him a name, “Jedidiah" which means “Beloved Of The Lord." The guy had caught God's eyes right from birth even when his mother came into the family through the devious plan of his father.
That's the thing about God. (Let's deviate a little). Your background doesn't matter to Him. So far He loves you, there's nothing you or He can do about it. That's why even if you've lived a reckless life before accepting Christ, He doesn't care about it. The moment you confessed Him as your Lord and Saviour, your sins and background got erased from God's memory. In summary, He simply forgot!
Therefore, when the devil comes to you reminding you of your life before Christ, refresh his memory of your inheritance in Christ and how much God loves you! Because that thing he's reminding you of so you can stay away from God, God has even forgotten and when you try to refresh God's memory, He's wondering what you're referring to because the moment He forgave you, He simply forgot! Shout it back to the devil that you've been forgiven and redeemed if he tries to remind you of your life before the cross (I perceive someone needed this).
So we were talking about Jedidiah...
I prefer Jedidiah to Solomon because the name sounds sonorous and is also more beautiful than Solomon. I don't even know why they didn't change his name to Jedidiah instead. God commanded them to do so through Nathan the prophet but they dinnor hear word (apologies to papa David). Maybe if they had called him Jedidiah right from the beginning, He'd have done better than he did.
Jedidiah, the “beloved of the Lord" also reciprocated the love (1 Kings 3:3) and that simply earned him the blank cheque God gave him! He did something spectacular that no other person ever did throughout the Old Testament. He offered a thousand burnt offering to the Lord in a single day! That's not all, study revealed that for each offering, he gave thanks to the Lord. That automatically translates that in a single day, Jedidiah told God, “Thank You" a thousand times!
The Yoruba tribe of Nigeria have a saying that “whoever is grateful today will definitely receive something again tomorrow." Jedidiah simply made God's head swell! Have you ever done something for someone and they thanked you so much that you felt like doing more for them? Yeah, that kind.
If you didn't take note earlier, take note of it as from now... If you do something good someone and they don't thank you as you'd love them to, you might not be so interested in helping such a person again. Also, if you notice that someone had always been of help to you everytime you need it, check how you thank them. It must have made their heads swell.
Though, as a believer, whether someone appreciates you to your taste or not, you should not stop helping out or doing good. However, there's a chord you can strike in someone's heart with the way you appreciate them when they've done something for you. It's the same with God.
In fact, we were created to worship God and be a pleasure to Him. Rev. 4:11. Appreciating and thanking God is not but it's one of the many ways to worship and give God pleasure. God was so impressed He went to Jedidiah at night and asked him, “What do you want?" 1 Kings 3:3-5.
“And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee." (KJV)
Oh ye descendants of Jedidiah (we all claim to be children of Abraham... If you trace the bloodline of Jedidiah, he's from the loins of Abraham so don't argue or rack your head as to which of his wives gave birth to you. Or you're a descendant of Jesus? Shey you remember Jesus referred to Himself as the Son of David?) That's by the way though. Anyways, I'm just trying to let you know that through thanksgiving coming from a sincere heart, you can get anything from God.
If you don't agree that you're in any way related to Jedidiah, at least, you're related to Jesus and Jesus did not do less of thanksgiving anyways. The only miracle recorded in all 4 Gospels is the feeding of the 5,000 and before that happened, Jesus did Thank God! The kind of miracle that happened thereafter was so big that they had extra.
How's your thanksgiving life? How many minutes do you take to thank God and how many do you take to ask Him for something? Say you pray for an hour, do you use 5 minutes or less to thank God and use the remaining 55 minutes billing God? Have you appreciated Him for the one He had previously done?
Here's the list of a few things you might not necessarily count but you should be grateful for...
- The fact that you can even open your mouth to pray is worth appreciating God for.
- The fact that you can breathe is worth appreciating God for.
- That you can read this without aid and assistance is worth appreciating The Father for!
- That you can eat without medical assistance is worth appreciating God for.
- That you can even use the restroom without the help of another person is a big enough reason to bless the name of the Lord.
- If you ask me, the biggest thing you can appreciate God for is Him sending Jesus to die for our sins (we for don die tey tey [we'd have been long condemned and even doomed!])
(Add yours to the list...)
What He has done is far more than what He has not done.
You're counting what He hasn't done without taking note of what He has done for you! How sad.
That hymn says,
1. When upon life’s billows you are tempest toss’d,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessing, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
CHORUS:
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
2. Are you ever burden’d with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, ev'ry doubt will fly,
And you will be singing as the days go by.
CHORUS.
3. When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold,
Count your many blessings, money cannot buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.
CHORUS.
4. So amid the conflict, whether great or small,
Do not be discouraged, God is over all,
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.
CHORUS.
WHEN UPON LIFE’S BILLOWS YOU ARE TEMPEST TOSS’D by Johnson Oatman. Jnr.
Hope you didn't jump the hymn? Hope you read it, and not just sing it? The third and last line of the hyms says how “if you count your blessings one after the other, you'll be surprised at how much the Lord has been gracious to you!"
How about we all do this? How about we get a jar or an empty bottle where we write down everything we can remember God has done for us? You'd be shocked that you'll write till your hands hurt and you might have to leave and come back to continue writing. You'll even be more surprised that you might have to fill in the jar daily. As for me, I'm going to get my jar and start writing out that which the Lord has done for me and I'll drop them in the jar.
Develop a heart of Thanksgiving to God. You know, I once heard the great man of God, Pastor E. A. Adeboye say, “When you pray, God can send His angels to answer your prayers but when you praise, God Himself will rise to attend to you!"
If you notice the way the battle God fought for the Israelites went when they praised than when they prayed, you'll discover it's totally different from the usual way of fighting. There's always a special way God fights for you when you use the weapon of praises and thanksgiving. It's one of the many weapons go get God to intervene in a situation. Thanksgiving should not be your last resort. Rather, it should be your first call in prayers. 2 Chron. 20:21-24, even at the wall of Jericho look how the lookalike of the great wall of China fell down flat. In fact, the way the Bible described it, even children took spoils that day.
The way God will settle you when you praise Him is always spectacular.
Now, this is not a call to not pray. Also, I'm not a fan of the school of thought that “When prayer doesn't work, try praises." Nope.
Prayer always works. Praise always works.
Praise God and pray to God! Don't substitute one for the other. They go hand-in-hand. After praising God, pray. After praying, still praise God!
Cultivate an habit of worship, praises and thanksgiving to God today and see how things would turn around.
Some don't attend the worship session of the service. They'd rather listen to the sermon and even the praise session that's taken during the offering, some don't bother to stand up to praise God. Ahhh... I sincerely don't know how people do that. For me, if I don't attend the worship and praise session of a service, I don't feel connected in the service.
That's literally the only thing you can give to God o. You can't pay Him for everything He has done for you! You should at least be able to sing praises and dance to Him! If you don't know how to sing, play praise songs by renowned and Spirit-filled Gospel ministers and dance to them. Go to church and dance! God is watching. Those people staring at you should feel weird for not dancing, not you.
Let your attitude towards appreciation and thanksgiving to God change positively. God inhabits our praises. Psalm 22:3.
“But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel."
Jedidiah understood this and the moment he made us of the instrument of appreciation, God came to Him with a blank cheque and asked him to fill it, and even after he filled it, God still added some spice to his request. What is that thing you're bothered and brooding about? How about you praise God for what He has done and then thank Him in advance because you know He'll do exceeding abundantly above all that you ask or think. Ephesians 3:19-21.
Here's what the psalmist says...
“I will bless the LORD at all times: His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: The humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt his name together." (KJV)
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