1 December 2016 –  

Psalm 72:18-19

“Bless the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does such wonderful things,

“Bless his glorious name forever!

“Let the whole earth be filled with his glory.  

“Amen and amen!”  (New Living Translation)

Grandpa lost his beloved wife of many years around the same time that I became a teenager.   For decades he’d been sheltered within a good marriage; and the trusting innocence of childhood was all I’d known until then.  So perhaps it was our shared experience of lost security that drew Grandpa and me together. Whatever the reason, we had a special bond of mutual support.

When I saw Grandpa becoming stronger, kinder, and better than ever as a widower –  generous, involved, calm and capable – we talked about how he had dealt with the crisis of losing his life partner.   The answer, Grandpa said, was to put oneself in a right relationship with God; and a “right relationship” was founded on trusting, praising and thanking God.   God , he said, should be the focus:  not yourself or the world (novel concept for a teenager!)

I might feel, Grandpa said, that I was in the midst of trouble, or that I desperately needed an answer which was not forthcoming.  But I must discipline myself to look past all that and focus on our wonderful God:  focus on his light, his love, his power and his promises.  With that focus, and a heart of praise, I would be in a right relationship with God:  the position from which God himself would help me move forward within his will.

In the many years since Grandpa and I talked, his advice has always proven true.  No matter what I face, I do best to focus on God with praise and thanksgiving:  first, last, and always.

King David knew that, too, for this Bible verse (Psalm 72:18-19) represents his very last recorded words, spoken on his deathbed after a long and eventful life:  “Bless the Lord God, the God of Israel, who alone does such wonderful things… “