“Oh, king, the most high God gave Nebuchadnezzar, your father kingship and greatness in glory and majesty.”
– Daniel 5:18
I want you to think with me about this statement that Daniel makes to the king about his father saying, “King, your father had greatness, glory, and majesty, and he was king. He had kingship because the most high God gave him those things.” That’s part of what we were praying according to in Daniel chapter four.
But the reality is anything that is good ultimately comes from God. Anything good. He’s the author of everything good, which means it is good to pause and to consider all the good things in our lives, around our lives, around the world, and to give God glory for all of those good things. Down to the most basic thing. When you get to verse 23, the Bible talks about how God holds our breath in his hand.
Breath is a good thing to have and God gives it. It comes from him, it doesn’t just happen naturally. God is the one who gives it. I want to lead us just to pray, and I’m just going to list good things, I hope as the Spirit leads and brings them to mind, but maybe in a way that you just start to think about all kinds of good things in your life and good things around your life and good things in the world, and maybe you continue even after I say amen, just praising God for his goodness. Just list all the good things. Thank God for his goodness in all these ways.
God, we praise you as the author of everything good. We praise you for our breath. We praise you for the life we have the ability go through this day. Lord, we praise you for your love in our lives. Jesus, we praise you for the cross, for dying for our sins, for rising from the grave, for eternal salvation, for eternal life, that even when this breath is gone, we have no reason to fear, because we will be with you forever. That is infinitely good news.
God, we praise you for friends and praise you for family. We praise you for food, praise you for clean water. God, we praise you for your beauty and creation all around us, your goodness on display in the changing of colors in the leaves and your goodness on display in the beauty of the sky, and when rain falls from it at your bidding. We praise you for your goodness in the resources you provide for us, shelter over our heads, for medicine when we are sick. God, for education, for the ability to learn, for the ability to know you through your word, for the ability to grow in wisdom and stature.
God, we praise you for your sustenance all day long, for your strength and our weakness, for your hope when we are in despair. We could keep going on and on and on, and in a sense we will for all of eternity. Praise you for your goodness, because your goodness is infinite. It has no end. It will never, ever, ever run out. God, I thank you so much for your goodness and God, we pray for those who don’t know you around us, around the world. We pray for 11 million Hejazi Arabs in Saudi Arabia, 11 million of them who don’t know you Lord Jesus, as the author of everything good.
God, we pray that you would bring them to salvation in you, that they might praise you for your goodness and your glory and your greatness and your majesty.
We pray for the few believers that are there among the Hejazi Arabs of Saudi. God, please strengthen them. Surround them with your goodness. Uphold them with your goodness. Lead them by your good hand. Empower them, embolden them, and God raise up more Christians to come alongside them. We pray for the spread of your goodness and your glory in Saudi Arabia through Jesus.
Oh God, with this breath you’ve given us, with all the good things in our lives, around our lives, help us to use them all. Our every breath, every good thing you’ve given us for the spread of your greatness and your glory and your majesty through our lives. In Jesus’ name we pray, according to Daniel 5:18. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
