Giving Thanks

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. (Psalm 107:1-3 ESV). If you have paid attention to the introductory lines on the cover for the emails of Morning Devotional, you may have noticed that I have been challenging you to think of a one word description for something or someone you are thankful about. Being a week away from our celebration of Thanksgiving I thought it might be helpful to concentrate a bit about the meaning of “thanksgiving.” When I first did a little research about the word I made a surprising discovery. The words thanks, thanksgiving, or thankful are found 139 times in the Bible. Obviously, for the writers of the Bible, thanksgiving is an important subject and well worth our reflection. I suppose that ought not be too surprising; but, with all of the different types of literature and authorships in the Bible, I was surprised. I would have thought the specific words would have not appeared as often. Our reading today is a great example of how the word is used in much of its appearance in the Scripture. Psalm 107 is the refrain which is repeated over and over again: “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love.” Each mention of the refrain follows wonderful acts which the Lord did for his people. These recollections of God’s intervening mercies prompted the Psalm writer to express his gratitude. G. K. Chesterton wrote: "I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder." The psalmist lists “the longing soul,” “the prisoner in distress,” “fools in their sinful ways” who had been delivered, sailors who had faced calamity in their work fearing for their lives, the “hungry,” and those who had been “diminished” by wicked rulers. Each of these had experienced a deliverance from the Lord that brought them a peace and hope that resulted in wonder. As I look back over the years of my life, I find that the work of grace in my life is nothing short of that kind of deliverance. I certainly have not been given what I deserve; rather I have been the recipient of countless experiences of good. Family, friends, opportunities beyond measure or expectation have all come to me. I am thankful for each of them in a way that cannot be measured. However, there have been other experiences that, at first experience, did not appear to be good at all. Yet, as the years pass God has shown himself faithful to make each one an abundance of good. Like the psalmist, I have come to the conclusion that the frequent repetition of thanks ought to be said often. It is my prayer that as we go through these next few days, we will recount our many blessings and thank God every day.