Have you ever wondered what does giving thanks to God look like besides saying thank you? Is there more to it? Today I am sharing three lessons on giving thanks from Psalm 100, the psalm of thanksgiving.
Enjoying the She Proves Faithful Podcast?
Consider supporting the podcast in one of these ways:
Give $5 monthly on Patreon to the SPF Podcast and get access to extra resources. Learn more at patreon.com/sheprovesfaithful.com
Try Audible for a month for FREE and get TWO FREE audiobooks that you can keep forever! When you try Audible (even if you do not sign up), the SPF Podcast is directly supported. More info here: https://amzn.to/2CZLh41
Check out my Amazon Storefront - it’s full of all my recommended resources and categorized for ease of finding just what you are looking for! Plus with every click and/or purchase, you support the podcast! See the store here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/sheprovesfaithful
Love taking care of your family? Try Earthley Wellness Products for your skin, body, hair, and herbal remedies! https://www.earthley.com/ref/lauren.hlushak/
Leave a review on iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/podcast-she-proves-faithful/id1116242133?mt=2
Coming Soon! 12 Days of Christmas Reading Plan
Check back soon!! It’s coming!
How and Why We Give Thanks
Psalm 100 is a great little psalm. It's only five verses but it is PACKED with powerful and direct lessons in what it means to be thankful.
It's titled "a psalm of giving thanks" which is noted by scholars as being unique and the only psalm to have this direct title about giving thanks.
Giving Thanks is:
Cheerful
Intelligent
Abounding
No. 1 Giving Thanks is Cheerful
Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth!
This joyful noise signifies a glad shout like when loyal subjects are in the presence of their king. Think of who we are - loyal subjects who have a dear King - one who is currently reigning and has made his enemies a footstool.
We are instructed to give thanks with a cheerful heart.
Sometimes it's difficult to be cheerful, but we can be cheerful when we think of who God is and all he has done.
No. 2 Giving Thanks is Intelligent
Charles Spurgeon wrote, "Knowledge is the mother of devotion, and of all obedience; blind sacrifices will never please a seeing God."
When we give thanks, we have an object that is receiving our worship. True thanksgiving is intelligent and will not worship blindly. True thanksgiving seeks to understand who we are giving thanks to and why.
Here we are instructed to know the Lord. And what about him? HE is God. He made us. We are his. We are his people. We are his sheep, and he is our shepherd. He is the one who created us and he is the one who cares for every bit of our being. How blessed to not only be thought of and created by our creator, but also to be brought into his fold, to be cared for and loved and protected and provided for.
Charles Spurgeon wrote, "it is very questionable whether a man can know himself until he knows his God. Jehovah is God, and the fullest, most absolute, and most exclusive sense, he is God alone; to know him in that character, and prove our knowledge by obedience, trust, submission, zeal, and love, is an attainment, which only Grace can bestow."
No. 3 Giving Thanks is Abounding
There is no shortage of reasons why we are to give thanks to the Lord. Our thanksgivings in both word and deed should be abounding because God's goodness, grace, mercy and love abounds to us continually.
George Witfield wrote:
What return shall I make to my ever-blessed Redeemer for all the favours he hath bestowed upon me? Help, I entreat you, help me to be thankful, and as you abound in prayer, abound in praises. I find my heart too backward to this divine exercise. I am ready enough to ask for mercies, but alas! how slow to return thanks! Indeed sometimes God touches me from above, and my heart, hard as it is, is melted down and quite overcome with the sense of his free grace in Christ Jesus towards me. But I want always to go on my way rejoicing; I want the heart of a seraphim;
I want to sing as loud as they
Who shine above in endless day.
I could almost say more than they, and why should I not return angelic thanks? But my heart is as yet unhumbled, I see not what I am, what I deserve, and therefore set not a due value on the divine mercies. Pray therefore, …, that I may receive my sight, that my eyes may be opened, and that seeing what God hath done for me, I may break out into songs of praise, and by such heart-transforming divine exercises be gradually trained up for eternal uninterrupted communion with that heavenly choir, who cease not chanting forth day and night hallelujahs to Him that sitteth upon the throne and to the Lamb for ever.
– George Whitefield, Letter XXXIII (Jan. 25, 1738), George Whitefield’s Letters: For the Period 1734 to 1742, pp. 35-36
"The whole life of a Christian should be nothing but praises and thanks to God. We should neither eat, nor drink, nor sleep, but eat to God, and sleep to God, and work to God, and talk to God; do all to his glory and praise."
– Richard Sibbes
Our every day living, when we do it to the glory of God, is all day worship service of praise and thanksgiving. this is a thanksgiving that is abounding.