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By Mervyn Morelock, Lt. Colonel
My daily ritual is to go out each morning to pick up the newspaper. I like to check the morning news to see what has happened in the world and in our area. In preparing my mind and heart for this month’s article on prayer, I decided to take another approach to a new day by starting with the Bible and waiting until later to read the newspaper. What a good idea that was!
The paper is filled with more gloom, doom and disaster than most of us can absorb. Stories of wars, rumors of war, financial crises, murder and wrong-doing abound in every column.
After reading my Bible, I checked out the newspaper front page. There were only two columns of “good news,” and the only really good news was a four-inch column covering the christening of Britain’s little baby, Prince George. There were 47 inches of bad news, six inches of neutral news and four inches of good news. The typical front page of a newspaper.
Paul Harvey told a story of a newspaperman who decided he would print only good news. His paper folded in six months. He said the only reason he could determine that people bought a paper with so much bad news was so they could read about people who were worse off than they were.
I’m glad that the Bible is filled with the thanksgiving praises of Paul and David and others who focus on “the Living Hope” and the “Good News of God’s everlasting love.”
David writes in Psalm 145:1-9 (MSG):
I lift you high in praise, my God, O my King! and I’ll bless your name into eternity.
I’ll bless you every day, and keep it up from now to eternity.
God is magnificent; he can never be praised enough. There are no boundaries to his greatness.
Generation after generation stands in awe of your work; each one tells stories of your mighty acts.
Your beauty and splendor have everyone talking; I compose songs on your wonders.
Your marvelous doings are headline news; I could write a book full of the details of your greatness.
The fame of your goodness spreads across the country; your righteousness is on everyone’s lips.
God is all mercy and grace—not quick to anger, is rich in love.
God is good to one and all: everything he does is suffused with grace.
This Thanksgiving, let us give thanks to almighty God for his greatest gift of all, his Son and our Savior, Jesus Christ.
As you pray, remember, there is power in your prayers.
God bless you and Happy Thanksgiving!
