Monday, November 15

Monday

Come, let us sing for joy to the LORD; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song. For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. Come, let us bow down in worship, let us kneel before the LORD our Maker, for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care. – Psalm 95:1-7

I don’t know if you have noticed, but we seem to have gone right from Halloween to Christmas in our culture. I was in Starbucks a couple of weeks ago and they already had their Christmas (“Holiday”) cups and decorations out. What happened to Thanksgiving? I know that there are significant commercial and market reasons for the early emphasis on Christmas, but from a personal and spiritual perspective – what about thanksgiving? Have you ever noticed how often the Bible speaks about our need to give thanks to God? From the Bible’s perspective, thanksgiving is considered part of our obligation to God.

The psalmist is giving the basic reasons everyone should give thanksgiving and praise to God. They apply not only to believers but also to all people. Each person has a responsibility to praise God, for all are creatures of His hands. In Romans 1, the apostle Paul points out that one of the charges God brings against people is that “although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him” (Romans 1:21). They did not recognize their relationship to Him. It is a constant source of amazement to me that people can be so blind to the fact that they are not, as they often imagine themselves to be, independent creatures making their own way through life. We take for granted all the forces that keep us alive and give us breath. We strut through life as if there were no one else we need to recognize as the source of our strength and power.

Dr. H. A. Ironside has written of an experience he once had at a restaurant. He ordered his meal and as was his custom, Dr. Ironside bowed his head and said a silent word of thanksgiving to the Lord before he ate. When he lifted up his head, and just as he was about to eat, a man walked up to his table and said, “Do you mind if I sit down with you?” Dr. Ironside said that it was quite all right, so the man sat down.

The man said to him, “Do you have a headache?”

Ironside said, “No, I don't.”

The man said, “Well, is there anything wrong with your food?”

Ironside said, “No, why?”

“Well,” the man said, “I saw you sitting there with your head down, and I thought you must be sick, or there was something wrong with your food.”

Ironside replied, “No, I was simply returning thanks to God as I always do before I eat.”

The man said, “Oh, you're one of those, are you? Well, I never give thanks. I earn my money by the sweat of my brow, and I don't have to give thanks to anybody when I eat. I just start right in!”

Dr. Ironside said, “Yes, you're just like my dog. That's what he does, too!”

That little story suggests that when we will not give thanks to God, we are acting like irrational animals. This is the basis of this appeal by the psalmist: no matter how we may feel or what our attitude toward God may be, we are bound, as creatures dependent upon His love and grace, at least to give thanks to Him as our Creator. Psalm 96:8 says, “Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.” God is always worthy of our thanksgiving, not just when we feel like giving it. We should do it for His name's sake. It would make a great difference in our worship if we would remember that praise is not something that merely reflects our fickle feelings but is something we ought to do simply because God made us, and we cannot live a moment without Him!

Lord, I give thanks to You because You are so worthy of glory. Forgive me for taking You and all that You do for granted – Amen.