JUST THINKING
“We have thought of thy lovingkindness, O God, in the midst of thy temple.” Psalm 48:9
If a person could learn to control his thoughts, he would greatly influence much in the other areas of life. For instance, the way we think or the subject of our thoughts will have an impact on our feelings or emotions. Negative thinking produces feelings of hopelessness or depression. Our thinking can also contribute to physical problems. When a person allows himself to dwell on such things as worry or anger, it can have harmful affects. Even our spiritual lives can be influenced by our minds in matters such as guilt or bitterness.
What are the kinds of things that would be productive for us to think about? In our text, the psalmist says, “We have thought of thy lovingkindness.” This is a great thing for us to consider. We ought to train our thoughts to be conscious of the attributes of God. Our minds should be occupied with thoughts of the goodness of God. “We have thought of thy lovingkindness.” No matter what happens, we know that God loves us. The Lord is good to us. It is profitable to spend time thinking about the untold and undeserved blessings that God has brought to our lives. When we think about how wonderful it is that God cares about us and how blessed we are to know Him, it can only be beneficial.
We have all heard of people who seem to be ready to criticize God or accuse Him of mistreatment. One of Satan’s more effective weapons is to convince people to question the goodness of God. The devil is a liar and always will be. It is a destructive snare to develop a negative or critical attitude. Life indeed can be difficult, even for the godliest Christian. Still, in the end, we will see that through it all God has been gracious and good.
In most lives, not enough time is spent just thinking about the kindness and mercy of God. We should make every effort to think of God’s lovingkindness at all times. But notice the specific place that our Scripture mentions thinking of His goodness. The Bible says, “in the midst of thy temple.” What is it that occupies our thoughts at church? How many spiritual blessings are missed at church because our minds are distracted? Public worship is an important part of our spiritual growth and responsibility, and includes remembering and praising God for how good He is.