Thankfulness: Why?

When the word thankful comes to mind, I remember how I tried to explain the word to a preschool class that I was teaching. To this challenging task I simply said that if you are thankful, that means that you are glad to have something or someone. This was a relatable definition for the children, which was realized by the barrage of items named as they were defining what they were thankful for. Just like the children, when we hear “thankful”, an abundance of personal blessings should flood our minds.

Many times in my life I have heard people say something like this, “Thank you God, (I am thankful) for who you are.” I began thinking and reading about why we should thank God.

In Psalm 95:2-3, David says, "Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song."
[And Why?]
"For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods."

God is a great Provider and King, and one reason of many, is that He is so because of the sacrifice He sent for us to enable us to have Eternal Life. He truly loved us, in all our imperfect ways, and promised us peace as a gift for believing and depending on him. As a reciprocal action we should talk to him, and thank him for being close and allowing us to be his chosen children and heirs to the “unshakable Kingdom” and abundant blessings [Hebrews 12:28].

Paul wrote in Romans [5:1] that the peace we have received is a direct result of being “justified through faith” by the gift that is Jesus Christ. And receiving this gift releases us from certain death which is the punishment for sin [Romans 6:23]. For this we must praise God and honor him.

We are not worthy of God’s goodness, yet He gives to us out of grace and mercy because He loves us. We are not treated as we deserve to be, as God has halted what would be just, to show us love. Following in this way, we should halt what the human and carnal nature would have us do and return the love to God and respect what He has done and given to us, by taking care of ourselves, taking care of others who are in need, and by simply thinking, speaking, and acting in a manner that is pleasing to God. This is the ultimate Thank you! For it is at this time of unity with God, and cohesion with his righteous path for us that we fulfill his holy plan for our lives!

What we do for God will last a lifetime, until the end of the ages. It is also contagious, and our responsibility as one of the chosen is not complete until we spread the praise and give God to others.

All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God. Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 2 Corinthians 4:15-16

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Independence and Deliverance(pt.2): Acknowledging God

O give thanks unto the Lord ; call upon his name: make known his deeds among the people. (Psalms 105:1)

In Psalms and Isaiah, the authors [David and Isaiah respectively] gave  a great blueprint to follow in regards to acknowledging God. They first show us how to recognize that even when (especially when) we are in trying times or “storms”, we should have faith that God is going to deliver us. We, as believers, have but to call on him and patiently wait on his reply. He will be what we need in times of uncertainty-strength, shelter, a present help.

For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.  Thou shalt bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.  He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the Lord hath spoken it.  And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is the Lord ; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. (Isaiah 25:4‭-‬5‭, ‬8‭-‬9 KJV)

Secondly, It is our duty and all around common courtesy to extend thanks to God for all that He has done to and through us. We are but a small piece in a much grander scale of life, yet He treats us as though everything revolves around us.
O Lord , thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth. (Isaiah 25:1 KJV)
In addition to giving him thanks, we also should declare publicly his wonders performed in our life. As Christians, we should praise and share our testimonies because they can be what help to create hope for others. Therefore, if God has blessed, and brought us to better situations, we should share our encounter with someone else. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; (Psalms 107:2 KJV)

Praise and Deliverance

I will bless the Lord at all times: his praise shall continually be in my mouth.” Psalm 34:1

This verse is a wonderful blueprint toward how a  Christian’s attitude should be, in regards to acknowledging God’s goodness. Written by the man after God’s own heart, this entire chapter of Psalms [34] reflects on the solid belief and example of God being there for us. The psalter makes sure to always include God’s workings in his life, no matter the situation he finds himself in or coming out of. Perhaps the approach that David takes toward revealing God’s divine intervention causes him to remain or at times, return to being of the description given- being righteous. Blessing the Lord at all times, and continuously praising God no doubt increased the relationship of David and God.

Verse 19 mentions the righteous in that “Many are the afflictions of the righteous:but the Lord delivereth him out of them all.” David surely had his fair share of afflictions, but one in particular is believed to have been the source of his penning these profound words declaring his praise.

Before the poetry of this chapter, is a partial explanation making reference to an incident involving David and his confrontation with Abimelech. In the incident, David, in fear for his life, plays the role of a man gone mad, on the ground in the dirt, drooling in his beard. This image is shameful, to say the least, but it worked. His life was spared and he was sent away. God had saved him, once again. His life was spared and he explains further, “ I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears (v.4). He realizes his shortcomings, referring to himself in verse 6 as “This poor man” crying, when once again “the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.” The commonality here is that when in distress, the Lord will hear his righteous, and deliver them out…of them all.”

Thousands of years after these events,we too can find ourselves on the receiving end of God’s deliverance. We have but to ask, and in the words of Jesus himself, “it shall be given; seek and ye shall find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matthew 7:7) In almost a mirroring of the image that David set forth in Psalm 34, Paul’s Epistle of Ephesians [5:20] reminds us to always give thanks to God for all things. We must remember who he is and what he is capable of. He hears us and delivers us from all that might oppose us. This deliverance is available by believing and consistently praising God’s name -always. David stated it perfectly in an earlier chapter. Psalm 9:10 says, “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” Beautiful poetry!

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