Returning Thanks

Daniel said, Let the name of God be blessed forever and ever, For wisdom and power belong to Him. It is He who changes the times and the epochs; He removes kings and establishes kings; He gives wisdom to wise men And knowledge to men of understanding. It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things; He knows what is in the darkness, And the light dwells with Him. To You, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, For You have given me wisdom and power; Even now You have made known to me what we requested of You, For You have made known to us the king's matter. Daniel 2:20-24

God had answered Daniel and his friends prayer by revealing to Daniel the King’s dream and the interpretation also.

Once the dream was revealed Daniel’s first priority was to give God the glory and the thanks. Daniel’s prayer of thanks reveals to us his understanding, wisdom, and his humility.

God is in the prayer answering business. He delights to answer our prayers. Do we delight in returning to him our praise and thanks for answered prayer? Too often it seems prayer is answered and we give it little notice; our lives are too busy to notice or there is something wrong with our thankfulness.

I see this occurring in my life and it disturbs me. For there are a whole lot of God-like attitudes that I fail miserable at but how much effort does it require for me to be… thankful!? Can’t I or we at least do well with being thankful to a God who shows us such love and care and mercy?

Our first priority is our relationship with our Heavenly Father. Our answered or unanswered prayer is not a ‘condition’ by which we gauge our gratefulness. It is God who rules, who controls, and who does what is best according to His own mind… not according to ours. That God would even hear and answer our prayers shows the greatness of His mercy, His love, and His care for us!

Should not our prayer be like Daniel’s? Should not our hearts recognize the greatness and goodness of God’s decisions?

Being thankful reveals our acceptance of God’s will in our lives, our trust in Him, and our acknowledging that true glory only belongs to Him.

'Heavenly Father, thank you for hearing our prayers, for considering them, and for answering those that you’ve deemed best for our lives! Forgive our ungrateful attitude in the mad-rush called our lives and remind us to slow down enough to be thankful and return our thanks to you.'