Appreciating God

 Psalm 37:4 (NLT) says, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you your heart's desires.” 

A lot of us really like this verse because it sounds like God is promising to give us the things we want, and honestly that part is exciting and easy to focus on. But what I’ve been starting to understand is that it’s not just about getting what we want, it also says something about God’s character, that He is actually good, and caring, and involved in our lives in ways we don’t always notice or think about.

James 1:17 (NLT) says, “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.” When I read that, I think about how many good things I just overlook every single day because I’m so focused on what I don’t have yet or what I wish was different. It’s easy to think of blessings as only the big things we pray for, but the truth is there are so many things that are already in place that we don’t even stop to question or appreciate.

Like just the fact that we breathe and don’t even have to think about it, or the sun just keeps coming up every morning like it’s supposed to. God holds together the world in a way that actually works for us to live in it. Even nature, how things grow without us making them, and seasons just change and keep going in order, and food actually comes from the ground and trees. None of it is really “normal” when you stop and think about it, but we act like it is. Maybe it’s because we see it every day, but it’s miraculous, and it all still points back to God. He’s the one keeping it going and providing way more than we even notice most of the time.

When we receive blessings from God, we often feel very overjoyed and give thanks to Him. Although we may say thank you, we may not truly understand how big a blessing something really is. You might wake up with food in the fridge and a closet full of clothes, sometimes even too much to pick from, and it starts to feel normal even though it really isn’t. And even if life isn’t like that, the fact that you’re still here, still breathing, still getting through each day is proof of God keeping you and sustaining you.

We still need to be grateful because God has given us so much to live for even when not a single one of us really deserves it. If we go back to James 1:17, it reminds us that every good and perfect gift comes from God and remembering that can help shift our minds when we start feeling ungrateful or stuck in what we don’t have.

So if you ever wake up feeling ungrateful, just be real with yourself about it, whether life feels good or whether it feels like things are hard right now. Gratitude doesn’t mean acting like everything is perfect, it just means remembering God is still good and still there, even in whatever you’re dealing with. And even then, you can still give Him praise and be thankful, not because everything is easy, but because He is a God who blesses us and keeps showing us good things in our lives.  

Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.

“Appreciating God”, written for aheartforchristdevotions.blogspot.com by Kraiapril©2026. All rights reserved. All done to the glory of God through Jesus Christ our Lord!