How to know you’re blessed

2026-09-01
Psalm 103:2 NLT

It’s the bad days that help us to appreciate the good days. Without them, we’d have no comparison point. David was talking to himself one day, and he recorded his thoughts for us: “May I never forget the good things he does for me.” Here are six “good things” worth thinking about:

(1) If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million people who will not survive this week.
(2) If you have never experienced the danger of battle, the loneliness of imprisonment, the agony of torture, or the pangs of starvation, you are better off than five hundred million people in the world.
(3) If you can attend a church meeting without fear of harassment, arrest, torture, or death, you are more blessed than three billion people in the world.
(4) If you have food in the refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the world.
(5) If you have money in the bank or in your wallet, or spare change in a dish someplace, you rank among the top 8 percent of the world’s wealthy.
(6) If you can read this devotion, you are more blessed than over two billion people in the world who cannot read at all.

There is always someone who is worse off. That doesn’t mean you revel in other people’s misery. But it ought to heighten your Christ-like compassion and give you a sense of gratitude that spills over into thanksgiving each day.

Soul food: Josh 16:1-19:23; Mark 10:13-22; Ps 103:13-22; Pro 23:1-3

Hoe om seën te herken


Psalm 103:2 NLV

Dis die slegte dae wat ons help om die goeie dae te waardeer. Sonder slegte dae sou ons geen vergelykingspunt hê nie. Dawid het eendag met homself gepraat en sy gedagtes vir ons opgeteken: ‘Ek wil die Here prys en nie sy goeie dade vergeet nie.’ Hier is ses ‘goeie dade’ wat die moeite werd is om oor na te dink:

1) As jy vanoggend redelik gesond wakker geword het, is jy meer geseënd as die miljoen mense wat hierdie week nie sal oorleef nie.
2) As jy nog nooit die gevaar van oorlog, die eensaamheid van gevangenskap, die pyn van marteling of die pyn van hongersnood ervaar het nie, is jy beter as vyfhonderd miljoen ander mense in die wêreld daaraan toe.
3) As jy ‘n kerkdiens sonder vrees vir teistering, arrestasie, marteling of die dood kan bywoon, is jy meer geseënd as drie miljard mense in die wêreld.
4) As jy kos in die yskas, klere aan jou rug, ‘n dak oor jou kop en ‘n plek om te slaap het, is jy ryker as 75 persent van die wêreld.
5) As jy geld in die bank of in jou beursie, of kleingeld in ‘n laai iewers het, tel jy onder die top 8 persent van die wêreld se rykes.
6) As jy hierdie dagstukkie kan lees, is jy meer geseënd as meer as twee miljard mense in die wêreld wat glad nie kan lees nie.

Daar is altyd iemand wat slegter daaraan toe is. Dit beteken nie dat jy jouself in ander mense se ellende verlustig nie. Dit behoort egter jou Christus-gelyke deernis te verhoog en jou ‘n gevoel van dankbaarheid te gee waarvoor jy elke dag dankie moet sê.

Sielskos: Josua 16:1-19:23; Mark 10:13-22; Ps 103:13-22; Spr 23:1-3