I will give to the Lord the thanks due to His righteousness, and I will sing praise to the name of the Lord, the Most High….The Lord is my strength and my shield. In Him my heart trusts, and I am helped. My heart exults, and with my song I give thanks to Him….When times are good, be happy. But when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one as well as the other. Therefore, no one can discover anything about their future. (Psalm 7:17, 28:7; Ecclesiastes 7:14)
Grumbling to God
Randy Kilgore was a human resource manager for over 20 years and is now a writer and workplace chaplain. Once he was driving an old station wagon with no side-impact airbag protection for his kids. The old windshield wipers were flapping back and forth trying to keep up with the heavy rain, and Randy was irritated as he drove his beat up car. He had to sell his house and liquidate the family savings to pay for uncovered medical expenses from his family’s life-threatening illnesses.
Randy was grumbling to the Lord and actually said out loud, “Okay, God, now I can’t even protect my kids from side-impact crashes. If anything happens to them, let me tell You what I’m going to do….” And the old windshield wipers kept flapping back and forth.
Randy was instantly ashamed. He remembered that over the past 2 years God had spared both his wife and son from almost certain death, and here he was, whining about how bad he had it. Randy was deeply sad about his ungratefulness. Then he remembered, how God the loving Father, did not spare His own Son (Jesus) to save Randy and all of Christ’s followers. Randy also remembered that God had also spared his son in a miraculous way.
Randy prayed “Forgive me, Father.” Then he remembered Psalm 103:11-12: “For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His love for those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.” Randy remembered that his Heavenly Father had already forgiven him because of Jesus’ doing, dying, and rising! God even pardons the sin of ingratitude!1
Ecclesiastes 7:14
As we think about thanksgiving to God, I’m using this lesser know passage. It’s printed in the NIV at the top of this post. Here are several other translations
ESV In the day of prosperity be joyful, and in the day of adversity consider: God has made the one as well as the other, so that man may not find out anything that will be after him.
MSG On a good day, enjoy yourself. On a bad day, examine your conscience. God arranges for both kinds of days so that we won’t take anything for granted.
NLT Enjoy prosperity while you can, but when hard times strike, realize that both come from God. Remember that nothing is certain in this life.
The joy and happiness we experience from God’s blessings, needs to be channeled into ongoing gratefulness to Him.
Thanksgiving Defined
Here’s my working definition. The whole Bible teaches: Thanksgiving is the attitude and activity of expressing appreciation and indebtedness to and for God, and especially for Christ Jesus the Lord. And for all the blessings that come to us from His heart and hands.
We Must Remember to Give Thanks
Dr. Buck Oliphant often reminds us: “Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances. For this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”2 Buck points out that gratefulness is the Lord’s command and a choice we have to keep on making, a decision we keep acting upon whether we feel grateful or not. Wendell Berry states, “Thanksgiving is the highest form of thought and gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.” I think he’s right. Thanksgiving traces all our blessings back to the hand of God (the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit). Scripture says: “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.”3
God created marriage and food to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated (made holy, sanctified) by the word of God and prayer.4
All Good Things Come from God
The Hebrew word in the ESV and NLT for prosperity is tovah. It means whatever is good, pleasant, agreeable, beneficial, beautiful, the best, bountiful, cheerful, glad, gracious, joyful, kindly, loving, merry, and sweet, as the Lord defines those things.
God Himself is GOOD in the ultimate way and the Bible says that often:
Exodus 34:6 The Lord is the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love (goodness, hesed) and faithfulness.
Psalm 23:6 Surely Your goodness and love (mercy, hesed) will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in Your house forever.
Psalm 25:8 Good and upright is the Lord. Therefore He instructs sinners in His ways.
Psalm 136:1 Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.
Psalm 145:9 The Lord is good to all. He has compassion on all He has made.
Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him.
The Lord’s goodness is expressed by His generous heart and actions toward us. He loves to bring joy and blessing to all His creatures. Goodness as a core quality in Him.
One song says:
All my life You have been faithful.
And all my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath that I am able I will sing of the goodness of God.5
Songwriter Jenn Johnson said that her song was inspired during the process of adopting her fourth child. She had been singing impromptu into her phone while driving on a long country road about the faithfulness and kindness of God. The song was later developed from her recording in the car.
We should spend as much time in thanking God for His benefits as we do in asking Him for them. Thanksgiving is an act of self-denial. (William Gurnall)
To be continued.
Notes (various Bible translations): 1 Our Daily Bread, February 14, 2016. 2 1 Thess 5:16-18. 3 James 1:17. 4 1 Tim 4:3-4. 5 “The Goodness of God,” by Jenn Johnson and Bethel Music (2019).