Give Thanks!

 Read Psalm 100

Read Psalm 136

Like it or not, November will say goodbye shortly. Thanksgiving Day seems late this year. It’s almost December, and then a New Year.

I talk about being thankful all year long, but you get an extra dose at this time of year. We should have a surge effort of thanksgiving and praise on occasion or multiple occasions.

So many people think that when my life settles down—whatever that means—I will be ready to give thanks.

When my bills are all paid, and the kids have new shoes, then I can be thankful.

When the doctor says that I am healthy again, then I will praise the Lord.

When I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I might be ready to thank God.

When I can afford an impulse buy every now and then without breaking the budget, I will be thankful and praise the Lord.

I will be thankful when I get around to it, and I have a lot to get done on my list first.

Let’s take a cue from the psalmist. We will look to Psalm 136 for the moment.

Give thanks to God. Why?

He is good.

His love endures forever.

He is the God of gods—the only true God.

He does great wonders. This whole creation thing has to be near the top of the list.

Heaven, earth, land and water, sun and moon, and other heavenly bodies all came into being by his breath. He spoke these into existence.

He delivered his people from bondage in Egypt. That was a series of mighty acts.

He parted the Red Sea and his people crossed it on dry land.  The same parted Red Sea did not treat the pursuing Egyptians so nicely.

He led his people through the wilderness until they were ready to enter the land that he promised Abraham as an inheritance. This took a while.

He struck down mighty kings that his people might prevail. He liberated his people.

God remembers us, even amidst the vastness of the universe.

He is the God of everything and remembers us even in our humble estate.

OK, the people back in the day had a lot for which they gave thanks. That was a long time ago.

I’ve got bills and medical appointments and parent-teacher conferences and have to work for some young guy with no experience and…

You can’t expect me to just give thanks because God rescued some people from slavery almost 3,500 years ago.  I have problems today.

There is a meme-related thought circulating online that goes something like this: Instead of focusing on what is happening to us and feeling helpless or wronged and feeling pitiful, focus on what God has already done for us. Focus on your blessings.

What then?  We should be better inclined to thanksgiving.

Give thanks to the God of gods. His love endures forever.

He made everything in creation. It all—including us—belongs to him.

Give thanks to the God who provides for everyone and everything.

OK, those always apply, but we need a Red Sea parting somewhere in our recent history.

Give thanks to the God who blessed you to be born in this most wonderful nation. We have our problems, and more are on the way, but we are blessed beyond what most of the world knows or imagines.

Give thanks to the God who blessed you to be born in this part of this most blessed nation. We still speak openly of our God and worship freely. We might face a mean comment or two when we express our faith online, but nobody is trying to kill us for professing Jesus as Lord.

Give thanks to the God who put us in the land of plenty, the land of everything modern, the land of modern milk and honey, and who loves us with an everlasting love.

Give thanks to the God who loves us so much that he gave his one and only Son that we might know real life and eternal life in him.

Give thanks to the God of gods who chose us to take his message to the world.

Give thanks to the one true God who is love.

Give thanks to God who is the Potter and shapes us in the likeness of his Son as if we were clay.

We must give thanks for our blessings, trials, and even the Lord's discipline. If it is from God, it is good for us. We may not understand it in the moment, but we should be thankful for it.

Our story goes back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as did the psalmist’s, but our story continues today with God's mighty acts in our time.

He is working with billions now, but he still knows us by name and has called us to him for his purposes. We don’t see Red Sea crossings but we see many saved from the slavery of sin and death. We see healing. We see the body of Christ helping the least of these brothers and sisters.

So many of God’s blessings are administered through the body of Christ in our time, including our own blessings.

We are blessed beyond our problems of the day, week, year, or decade.

We are blessed, and we should be thankful.

It’s not how big our problems are. It’s how big our God is, and that’s something for which we give thanks.

Give thanks.

Amen.