Enter his gates with thanksgiving;
go into his courts with praise.
Give thanks to him and praise his name. (Psalm 100:4)
I’m struck by the psalmist’s words about how to come before the Lord. Our entryway to his presence is with a posture and attitude of giving thanks to him. Particularly I’m thinking of what the psalmist doesn’t say:
Our first move is not to come with self-absorption. When we enter His presence, the focus is on him, not us. We are giving thanks to God for who he is, and for his goodness. We are not coming with us in mind. (That’s hard for us, because I think for the most part, life revolves around me as the center. But entry way before him is not based on me, but on him. That’s a big switch from our normal perspective.)
Our first move is not to come with whining! “Oh, I am so glad to finally see you, God, and have some time with you. I’ve been saving up a bunch of things I want to talk to you about—and brace yourself, God—they aren’t pleasant! I’ve been done wrong, and the world is not working right! Number one…(and you’d better pull up a chair because this is going to take a while)…” None of that. We don’t enter His presence to shower him with complaints and get a bunch of things off our chest. It’s not that he doesn’t invite our honesty or want us to be real. But our first move is not to whine; our first move is to give Him thanks.
Our first move is not to come with a list! “God, I’ve got a list of things I need to talk to you about. Some friends are on this list for healing; some are in financial trouble; some have children problems; I don’t understand what’s happening in Washington! My marriage is not what I want it to be. I know I only have a few minutes of your precious time, so let me get started…” No, we aren’t entering his presence with a list. That’s not the doorway. No doubt in my mind, He is indeed interested in what is on our list. But shoving that list in his face in prayer right as we enter into his courts is not the protocol. The protocol of thanksgiving comes from a proper understanding and respect of who he is. And when we understand who he is, our first response in his presence is thanksgiving.
Our first move is not to come with grievances. Years ago, Robert Duvall starred as the lead character Sonny, a Pentecostal preacher, in the movie, The Apostle. At one point Sonny is wrestling in prayer late in the night and says loudly, “Lord, this here is Sonny. I love you, God, but I’m mad at you!” I think it’s healthy to tell God how we feel. He sees our hearts; he knows our hurts better than we do. His doors are open for us to talk with him about our grievances. But spouting our grievances—whether legitimate ones or ones we just sort of hang on to and can’t let go of and really don’t have a right to keep stewing over—is not the entry way into God’s presence. If grievance-dumping is our first move, we need to step back and realize that our perspective on how to relate to God needs an adjustment.
Our first move is to thank him.
Thank him for what he’s done.
Thank him that he has claimed us as his people.
Thank him that he is in charge (and that we aren’t)!
Thank him that he is bigger than we are, and bigger than any problem we have.
Thank him that he is God Almighty, who, as Paul says in Ephesians 1, has “blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”
And the list of things to thank him for goes on and on.
The Psalmist instructs us that thanks to God is the proper approach into his presence. Once in his presence, we can communicate and interact and go more deeply into life happenings. But our first move is thanksgiving.
“Father, we pray for grace today to enter into your presence with thanksgiving. Our first move, naturally, it seems, is about us. But teach us and empower us to first focus on you, to turn our eyes and hearts to you, and to give you thanks as we come before you.”
Freddy Boswell 