1…2…3…4…

“Just a minute, it won’t take me long.”

I told David I was recording things in my th(i)nkful journal. Every evening before bed, I seek to count and express things for which I thank God. I find that it is not difficult at all. I usually don’t have enough room in my journal. Over time, the discipline becomes a delight as God gives you a heart to look around and recount His good gifts.

When I first started this habit in July of 2017, it took some conscious thought to discover items to write down, but now…. super easy. As I am going through my days now, my th(i)nkful search engine stays busy in the back of my mind. Is this something that I will record tonight in my th(i)nkful journal?

In giving counseling homework, I am adamant about including thinking thanks. I want my counselees to write down things daily, or to verbally express things, that they are thankful for. I want to inspire them to begin to count.

Take Into Account

The definition of count is take into account. I think of a bookkeeper who carefully logs the correct numbers to keep accurate records.

I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us,

Isaiah 63:7

… that I may recount all your praises,

Psalm 9:14

We give thanks to You, O God; we give thanks, for Your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.

Psalm 75:1

But we your people, the sheep of Your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; from generation to generation we will recount Your praise.

Psalm 79:13

I shall not die, but I shall live, and recount the deeds of the LORD.

Psalm 118:17

The Lord seems to want us to recount His blessings. To recount is to count again, which means stopping, backing up in time, and counting again. It’s like the word “recollect” – which means to collect again because, like doves when their cage is opened, things we can be thankful for fly away.

Do you recount? Do you recollect?

Count It All Joy

There is another place in the Word where we are exhorted to count. In James 1:2 it states that we are to “count it all joy” when we meet various trials because they have a purpose to produce steadfastness in us. This is a different kind of count. It means to consider, deem. We are to regard the trials in our life as joy.

That’s a little harder. We like counting good things, but counting hardships as joy?? They don’t seem to belong in the joy column! There’s a dark, dismal, disaster, discouragement column for those! We have to look carefully at the verses.

“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”

James 1:2-4

There’s a purpose to the trial, a greater good God is accomplishing. The testing of our faith produces steadfastness – “sticktuitiveness” – the ability to stay steady and not freak out under pressure. One way to look at it is that we are like functioning, active products that the Lord is manufacturing. You wouldn’t want to use an appliance or drive a car that had never been tested. That testing-refining-testing-improving process is what matures us, helping us to become “just perfect” for the job God has for us to accomplish.

So, we have to value, and even celebrate, our trials because God is using them to make us different from our original selves, to reconfigure our thoughts, desires, behaviors, and responses to be like His Son. As we increasingly understand the character of God, we can try to figure out and appreciate what He wants to do in us through the trials. This is not so easy and sometimes takes years.

Count Your Many Blessings

Johnson Oatman, Jr. was born in Medford, NJ. He lived from 1856-1922. Count Your Blessings, written in 1897, was Oatman’s masterpiece and E. O. Excell wrote the music for it.

Johnson is known for writing many hymns, but this one is his most popular one. It seemed to find favor with God’s people right from the beginning. While in London, revivalist Rodney “Gipsy” Smith announced the hymn to his audience by saying, “Down in South London the men sing it, the boys whistle it, and the women rock their babies to sleep to the tune.”

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

  REFRAIN: Count your blessings, name them one by one;
  Count your blessings, see what God hath done;
  Count your blessings, name them one by one;
  Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

Are you ever burdened 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. [Refrain] 

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. [Refrain] 

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. [Refrain]

Maybe you need to do some counting, even as a family around the Thanksgiving dinner table. We discover that when we begin to number the many blessings, our perspective changes. We are so incredibly blessed. God has been so good to us. We have been redeemed and given an overwhelmingly different future if we have placed our faith in the work of Christ on the cross. If we face trials, we know that we have a Divine designer and developer managing every detail for our long-term good and His long-term purposes. Even if we face leaving this world, we can be at peace because our mind is stayed on the Lord and we trust in Him (Isaiah 26:3).

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart;
    I will recount all of your wonderful deeds.

Psalm 9:1