Focus: Giving Back To God

Text: Ps.116:12

"What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?"

Benefits are conferments and bestowments from one person to another, and in this instance, God Himself is the bestower, and we His people are the recipients.

God keeps heaping blessings upon us. From the cross the blessings flow. From the throne of grace the blessings come. Diverse blessings. All kinds of blessings. Blessings of all dimensions. Physical, material and spiritual blessings.

What has God not done for us - for you? From His fullness we have received grace upon grace.

He has redeemed our souls and blessed our lives. He has forgiven our sins and washed us in His blood. God has delivered us from troubles and took us out of dangerous situations. He has made us into a kingdom of priests - a royal priesthood. We are citizens of heaven. Our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Demons are made subject unto us. Paul declares, "But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ" (1Cor.15:57). Daily victory is our portion. The psalmist says to himself, "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits" (Ps.103:2).

Our whole being should bless the Lord, and we should not exhibit any form of memory loss when it comes to all blessings we have received and keep receiving from God. It is in Him that we live, move, and have our being. He fights our battles and watches over us. He never forsakes us. He never abandons His own. He works in us both to will and do His good pleasure.

The psalmist is still in the spirit of worship, and he is saying to all of us, "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah" (Ps.68:19). We enjoy loads and loads of blessings from our God on daily basis. He has infinite resources. His treasure house has no bottom. God is the source of all true blessings. James says, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (Jam.1:17). No man has anything worth having that is not given to him by God.

The psalmist is asking a question, What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits toward me? It is a question to ponder. The word 'render' means 'to return back.' What shall we give back to God for all He has given to us? He has given us life and everything that goes with it. He gives us life and supplies our needs. He has freed us from the bondage of sin and Satan, and Paul now says, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage" (Gal.5:1). It is crucial that we consider returning back to God a great deal of appreciation. What we return should be in accordance to mercies received and blessings bestowed. We cannot afford to give God less praise or less offering. 

The highest of returns we can make is our obedience.

He is calling on us to be loyal to Him and do what He says. Jesus asked, "There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger" (Lk.17:18). Ten lepers cured, but only one returned to give thanks, and he happens to be a stranger. What a shame! What a tragedy! What a sad ratio - ratio of one to ten! It doesn't speak well of us. God gives and gives and gives us, but we are not grateful enough to return glory to Him.

The Scripture says concerning Hezekiah, "But Hezekiah RENDERED NOT AGAIN ACCORDING to the benefit done unto; for his heart was lifted up: therefore there was wrath upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem" (2Chron.32:25). There are certainly repercussions for being ungrateful and for returning to God empty handed. We must refrain from entitlement mentality. Many of us are never tired of getting and getting and getting as long as we are not the ones doing the giving. And we don't seem to have enough or be satisfied with what we are getting. That's an evil heart and a bad attitude.

God warns through prophet Jeremiah, "If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good wherewith I said I would benefit them" (Jer.18:10). Don't make God repent from releasing the next benefit. If God promises to bless you, but you keep neglecting your responsibility to God, you make God change His mind. God can't keep blessing a selfish fool.

Prepare yourself to make good returns on God's investment into your life. Stop taking God's blessings for granted. Stop treating the goodness of God like something that is grossly inadequate and insufficient.

David says, "Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing…" (2Sam.24:24). Let's learn from David and adopt his attitude and heart of appreciation. Form a habit of making returns to God often. In fact make it a daily habit. The psalmist says, "SEVEN TIMES a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments" (Ps.119:164).

May the Lord grant you all the grace you need to be grateful to God and do His word. Make returns on investment. Give back to God regularly, proportionately, and cheerfully. Blessings!

by Bishop Moses E. Peter