Thanking God for Life

By Andrew McChesney

Fifteen-year-old Giselle didn’t feel well when she woke up one morning. She prayed before getting out of bed as she always did.

“Dear God, thank You for everything You have done for me, especially that I am still alive,” she prayed.

She thanks God for life every day. She and her family immigrated as refugees to the United States from Rwanda when she was 12. She faced a difficult life in her African homeland, where her parents struggled to find work and the family had little to eat. She often went hungry.

After praying, Giselle slid out of bed in the bedroom on the second floor of the family’s small home in the U.S. state of Georgia and carefully walked down the stairs. She felt so weak.

“I don’t feel well,” she told her mother.

Mother was talking on the cellphone, but she interrupted her conversation.

“Go back upstairs and go back to bed,” she said. “Maybe you’ll feel better.”

Giselle turned around to climb up the stairs and collapsed. She heard mother call out her name as she fell down the last three stairs and crumpled onto the hard floor below.

“Giselle!” Mother cried. “Are you OK?”

Giselle was unable to reply. She couldn’t breathe, so she couldn’t speak.

Mother hung up the phone and ran over.

“Giselle! Giselle!” she said.

Giselle still couldn’t answer.

Mother touched her forehead to see if she had a fever. No fever.

Mother called Giselle’s 19-year-old sister to bring an electric fan to provide some air.

The cool air felt good on Giselle’s face. She began to breathe.

“Are you OK?” Mother asked.

“I’m fine now,” she said.

Mother wanted to take Giselle to the hospital, but the girl insisted that she was fine. Mother gave her some water to drink. Giselle later learned from the physician that she had collapsed because she wasn’t eating properly.

The night after her fall, Giselle prayed before going to sleep. She also prays every night before bedtime.

“Dear God,” she said, “thank You for this day, and thank You for everything that You have done for us, especially for keeping me alive.”

This quarter’s Thirteenth Sabbath Offering will help refugee children like Giselle obtain scholarships to study at Seventh-day Adventist schools in the North American Division. Giselle received financial assistance from a 2011 Thirteenth Sabbath Offering to study at an Adventist school in the U.S. state of Georgia. Through the influence of the school, she gave her heart to Jesus in baptism.

Produced by the General Conference Office of Adventist Mission.
Find more mission stories at adventistmission[dot]org

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Further Thought:

“David’s repentance was sincere and deep. There was no effort to palliate his crime. No desire to escape the judgments threatened, inspired his prayer. … He saw the defilement of his soul; he loathed his sin. It was not for pardon only that he prayed, but for purity of heart. … In the promises of God to repentant sinners he saw the evidence of his pardon and acceptance. … ‘The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.’  Psalm 51.16-17.

Image @ Stan Myers from GoodSalt.com

Though David had fallen, the Lord lifted him up …

David humbled himself and confessed his sin, while Saul despised reproof and hardened his heart in impenitence.

This passage in David’s history is … one of the most forcible illustrations given us of the struggles and temptations of humanity, and of genuine repentance. … Through all the ages … thousands of the children of God, who have been betrayed into sin, … have remembered … David’s sincere repentance and confession … and they also have taken courage to repent and try again to walk in the way of God’s commandments.

Whoever … will humble the soul with confession and repentance, as did David, may be sure that there is hope for him. … The Lord will never cast away one truly repentant soul.” — Ellen G.

White, Patriarchs and Prophets, pages 725, 726.

Discussion Questions:

<–Thursday

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Support for the mission activities of the Seventh-day Adventist church has always been part of the Sabbath School program. This video is Mission Spotlight for this week.

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Probably the most natural thing for us to do after working through an embarrassing failure and experiencing forgiveness is to try to forget that the event ever happened. Memories of failure can be painful.

What does David want to do with his painful experience? Read Psalm 51:13-19.

When a bowl or a precious vase falls and breaks into pieces, we normally sigh and throw the useless broken pieces away. In Japan there is a traditional art called kintsugi, which specializes in recreating broken pottery. A precious metal, such as liquid gold or silver, is used to glue the broken pieces together and to turn the broken item into something of beauty and value.

Image © Larry Torno at Goodsalt.com

Every time God forgives our transgressions and re-creates us again, something changes. God’s precious forgiveness glues our brokenness together, and the visible breaks can draw attention to His grace. We can become God’s loudspeakers. “My tongue shall sing aloud of Your righteousness” (Psalm 51:14). We don’t attempt to self-repair or auto-improve (even incrementally). Our broken spirits, our contrite hearts, are enough praise for God — and they are beams of light that the world can see surrounding us. Our experience of being forgiven attracts others who are searching for forgiveness.

What relationship is there between Psalm 51:1-19 and 1 John 1:9?

1 John 1:9 is a short summary of Psalm 51:1-19. As David knows that “A broken and a contrite heart — These, O God, You will not despise” (Psalm 51:17), John assures us that “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). We can take God at His word.

Again, David could not repair the tremendous damage that he had done through his acts and example to his family. He suffered the consequences of his decisions and actions. And yet, David knew that he had been forgiven. He knew that he needed to trust by faith that one day the true Lamb of God would come and stand in his place.

<–Wednesday Friday–>

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After David has confessed his sin without trying to excuse it or gloss over it, he goes on to petition God. What does he ask God for? Read Psalm 51:7-12.

David’s reference to cleansing with hyssop utilizes terminology known to every Israelite who had ever visited the sanctuary. As he refers to the ritual acts of cleansing described in the Law of Moses (Leviticus 14:4), he recognized the power of a sacrifice — the Sacrifice — who would come in the future to take away the sins of the world.

Image © Steve Bridger at Goodsalt.com

David also goes on to ask for “joy” and “gladness.” In the face of the enormity of his sin, isn’t this a little audacious?

Perhaps it may be helpful to listen to this paraphrase: “Tell me I am forgiven so that I may enter the sanctuary again where I can hear the joy and gladness of those worshiping you.”

When Adam and Eve sinned, they hid from God’s presence (Genesis 3:8). Why do you think David’s request, even after his sin, is so different? Read  Psalm 51.11-12.

David does not want to lose the consciousness of living in God’s presence. He realizes that without the Holy Spirit, he is powerless. He knows that, as easily as he slipped into sin with Bathsheba, he could slip into sin again. His self-confidence is shattered.

David understands that future victories will not come from him; they will come only from God as he depends totally on God.

The victorious Christian life is not all about us. It is all about Jesus. We yearn for His presence; we crave His Spirit; we want His joy of salvation. We recognize our need for renewal and restoration. We need His rest — a divine act of re-creation. Creation rest is not far from forgiveness. “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10) uses creation terminology. In the Old Testament only God can “create” (bara’) — and once we have been re-created, we can rest.

<–Tuesday Thursday–>

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