Give Thanks

Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 136:1

Starting with the oldest family members in the room, we did that cliché Thanksgiving Day tradition where everyone shares what they are thankful for. My little cousin, who must have been about six at the time, said he was thankful for “God and Jesus.”

In other words, he played the Jesus card, making everyone else’s responses look silly.

Thankful for God

If we’re honest, when asked what we are thankful for, our first thought is not always “God and Jesus.” Often, our minds go to what is transient. We are thankful for our job/house/car/education/family/friends/dog.

Perhaps we are thankful for these things because we know that they are temporary pleasures and that life is full of struggle (Isaiah 40:7–8, Job 14:1). We grasp them tightly. We beg God for them when we lack them.

But what about when they go away? If what we are most thankful for is temporary, will not our thanksgiving be just as temporary?

In 1 Thessalonians 5:18, we are commanded to “Be thankful in all circumstances.” We are even told that this is God’s will for us who belong to Christ Jesus. In the verse directly prior (1 Thessalonians 5:17), we are commanded also to “Never stop praying.”

In Spanish, the holiday of Thanksgiving is called Día de Acción de Gracias. Translated word for word, this means “day of acting in thanks.”  Even the English definition of the word “thanksgiving” involves an action that expressed gratitude: prayer.

thanksgiving | noun | \ thanks·giv·ing \:

a prayer or an expression of gratitude

To be able to truly act in thanks—fulfilling the command and express gratitude through prayer always—we must look to something more permanent than our houses, cars, or dogs.

Give Thanks

The words “give thanks” are repeated 12 times in Psalm 136. Each time, God is the recipient of the thanks being given. Each verse of the psalm then contains the words “His faithful love endures forever.”

Interestingly enough, the reasons the psalmist is giving thanks to God are not circumstantial.

In the first section, God is praised first because of who He is…

• He is good! (verse 1)
• He is the God of gods. (verse 2)
• He is the Lord of lords. (verse 3)
• He alone does mighty miracles. (verse 4)
• He made the heavens so skillfully. (verse 5)
• He placed the earth among the waters.  (verse 6)
• He made the heavenly lights—the sun to rule the day, and the moon and stars to rule the night. (verses 7–9)

The psalmist even breaks up his last point, pausing to declare “His faithful love endures forever,” three times before finishing his sentence.

Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights—
His faithful love endures forever.

the sun to rule the day,
His faithful love endures forever.

and the moon and stars to rule the night.
His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 136:7–9

Next, God is praised for some specifics, all of which are things that He has already done…

• He killed the firstborn of Egypt. (verse 10)
• He brought Israel out of Egypt. (verse 11)
• He acted with a strong hand and powerful arm. (verse 12)
• He parted the Red Sea. (verse 13)
• He led Israel safely through, but he hurled Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. (verses 14–15)
• He led his people through the wilderness. (verse 16)
• He struck down mighty kings. (verse 17)
• He killed powerful kings—Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan. (verses 18–20)
• God gave the land of these kings as an inheritance—a special possession to his servant Israel. (verses 21–22)

Finally, the psalmist praises God for general aspects of His character, which he may have become aware of as a result of the specific ways God had already moved…

• He remembered us in our weakness. (verse 23)
• He saved us from our enemies. (verse 24)
• He gives food to every living thing. (verse 25)
• He is the God of heaven. (verse 26)

The psalmist does not speak of current circumstances, only characteristics/traits of God Himself and completed works of God. At the core of this praise is something that will never end or change: God’s faithful love.

This is the key to giving thanks in all circumstances: recognizing that God’s love does not hinge on them. And since our faithfulness hinges on God’s love, we can be thankful and declare “He is good!” and “His faithful love endures forever” no matter what we are going through.

Act in Thanks

There is a saying that goes something like this: What if you woke up tomorrow with only what you thanked God for today?

Such a question may drive us to quickly run through the list of temporary things again and pray gratefully, for fear that we will lose our job, or that Fido will run away so God can teach us a lesson about thankfulness.

While it is not bad to pray like this or appreciate the temporary things and the favorable circumstances God gives us in some seasons, our ultimate hope is elsewhere.

God will always be there, even for the times when we forget to thank Him for who He is. That is all the more reason to make Him the recipient and the subject of our praises.

Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His faithful love endures forever.

Psalm 136:26

For every prayer of thanks we give for the job we may not wake up to tomorrow, we can give God a sure thanks for His love which will endure tomorrow and forever.

For every prayer of thanks we give for the family member who may not be with us tomorrow, we can thank God for His mercy which will endure tomorrow and forever.

For every prayer of thanks we give for a meal that will be gone by tomorrow, we can thank God for His provision of grace which will endure tomorrow and forever.

In short, thanksgiving is possible because we will always, always, always have “God and Jesus.”

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Next Steps

These next steps are ways to act out in thankfulness.

1. Thank God in prayer for His faithful love, which endures forever.
2. Seek out a verse in the Bible that can remind you of a reason to be thankful, no matter your circumstance. Then, share it in the comments below to encourage others.
3. Make a list of things God has already done. Thank Him in prayer for these as well.