Give Thanks

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of Lords, for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 136:1-3

I’m sure we all have reasons to give thanks to God at the end of 2022, and since 2023 began. We are encouraged by Paul to not be anxious but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving make our request known to God (Philippians 4:6). In giving thanks to God in prayer, we are quick to first think of or reflect on what God has done for us, truly they’re amazing and we should thank him for those, but in doing this, we turn the attention to ourselves, and our thanksgiving now flows from what we have.

However, in Psalm 136 the people are called to give thanks to the LORD first for who he is (the Object of Our thanksgiving) and second their attention to why (the Reason for Giving Thanks) we should give thanks. The WHO and WHY should be front and center of our thanksgiving and the lens through which we look at the blessings and goodness of the LORD towards us.

The Object of our Thanksgiving

One of the reasons I love the book of Psalms is that it reminds us that God is the object of our worship. If this is lost, we slip easily into the sin of idolatry. So, give thanks to the LORD for:

He is Good

No one is good except God alone (Mark 10:17-18). God is good not because of what he does but who He is, He is inherently good. Everything about God is good, His holiness is good, His wrath is good, His justice is good, his love is good, hence his creation is good (Genesis 1:10, 12, 18, 25, 31). Remember every good and perfect gift comes from him because he is Good (James 1:17).

He is Sovereign over all things.

He is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the God of heaven and earth. We are reminded of the supremacy of God in this call to worship – Verses 2, 3, & 26. We are to give thanks to the LORD because he rules and reigns over all; his dominion is an everlasting dominion; his kingdom endures from generation to generation……… and none can stay his hand or say to him what have you done (Dan 4:34-35).

He is Just.

He will punish the wicked and oppressors of His people – Verse 10-21 

He is our Salvation.

He is the God of our salvation, the one who saved us from His wrath. The one who rescued us from the bondage of sin, the kingdom of darkness, and did not only translate us to the kingdom of his son, but he also adopted us and guaranteed it with His Spirit.

When we come to the LORD in prayer, let us think about his goodness with respect to who He is - He is Good; think about how a wretched sinner like us can come before a Holy God and not be consumed because – He is our Salvation. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.

I will follow up with the WHY – reasons to give thanks to the LORD, in the next issue of our newsletter.