Devotions from Matt Redman – 10,000 ReasonsVoorbeeld

10,000 Reasons

“For all Your goodness I will keep on singing…Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.”

A music producer once commented that in the world of pop you can only really write four kinds of song: “I love you”, “I hate you”, “Go away” and “Come back”! That’s an amusing yet astute observation. But gladly, when it comes to writing songs towards the God of all eternity, we have a whole different color palate to work with. When I talk about the reasons for God’s worth and say there are ‘ten thousand reasons for my heart to find’ that’s actually the huge, poetic understatement. The reasons for the praise of God are so wide and wonderful that we could sing from now until forever and never run out of ideas as to why He is quite so worthy.

Think about the world of nature for a moment. As of now, scientists have described over 1.7 million species of animal, plant and algae on earth. Mammals make up one of the smallest groups-with less than 6000 members known. For insects on the other hand, we’re aware of about 1 million different species. And in all categories, there are more species becoming known every year. In fact, in some places like the depths of the ocean we’ve hardly even begun to explore, and there are countless more species to find and identify. But let’s stick for a moment to those 1.7 million species we know of so far. I think we could safely say that every kind of plant, animal or other living thing created by God is a reason for His praise.

So we’ve hardly begun and we’ve found 1.7 million reasons why we might respond to Him. Next, look up at the stars-scientists are now saying there are more stars in the known universe than there are grains of sands on all of the world’s beaches and deserts. So, right there we have billions and billions more reasons to utter up an offering of praise. Next, we look to our own lives-the countless blessings weaved into our everyday existences, and the miracle of life itself. We think about families and social circles, and provision in our lives. And we praise, and praise, and praise again. Perhaps that’s why at the end of Psalm 30 the worshippers says:

“…my heart may sing to You and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” (Psalm 30:12)

The psalmist knows of a multitude of reasons why we should worship God. And he knows of not one reason why he should refrain from doing so. He can’t think of a single motive why he should remain silent. The same must be true for our own lives. The worship of Jesus should be vibrant, creative, and colorful as we unfold our hearts in praise. There will be an eternity of reasons to adore and revere Him.