Afterwords -- giving thanks
"Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever." (Psalm 136:1)
November 17, 2023
Dear friends,
For many, the American holiday known as Thanksgiving is just a brief interlude, often just a gluttonous whistle-stop, between Halloween and Christmas. For many it's Food, Football, and the Day Before Black Friday. For the Christian, however, the giving of thanks is an everyday, year-round activity of heart and lips.
WHY GIVE THANKS? Giving thanks is fundamental to our very nature as created beings. Though our pride would blind us, yet in the end we must admit that we receive all things -- life and breath, strength and health, daily bread and rest, soundness of mind, beloved relations, even our very existence -- from God alone. At Thanksgiving time (the holiday) we pause to acknowledge all of this. It is right and good that we do so.
But thankfulness must rise above one day a year, and it must rise above gratitude for material and familial blessings. Thanksgiving is more than feeling grateful, it is giving God his due glory. Real and genuine thanksgiving comes from a heart that believes that God is the sovereign Lord, Savior, and Provider of all things we need for life and godliness. And this is true every day, every moment, every breath.
PSALM 136, like many of the psalms, was written in order to give praise and thanksgiving to God in public worship at the temple in Jerusalem. Twenty-six times in this psalm this refrain is repeated: "for his steadfast love endures forever." (This song was likely written for antiphonal singing between two choirs in the temple court.) "Steadfast love" (hesed) means a love which is compassionate and committed for life. It is often used to describe the Lord's covenantal care for his people. It's such a rich word, and so, this refrain is translated in various ways: "His lovingkindness is everlasting" (NAS), "his loyal love endures" (NET), "his love endures forever" (NIV), "His love is eternal" (CSB), and "His faithful love endures forever" (NLT). Psalm 136 is a song of thanksgiving for who God is and what wonderful things he has done for us as creator, deliverer, and provider. The refrain, "Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his steadfast love endures forever," also begins three other psalms: 106, 107, and 118.
GRATITUDE (of our heart) and the giving of thanks (with our lips) encompasses especially the first of the Ten Commandments ("you shall have no other gods") and the tenth ("you shall not covet"). But in many ways thankfulness -- because it is so connected to love -- helps to fulfill the law. Thankfulness confesses that there is only one God from whom all blessings flow. It does not give thanks (nor give credit) to images, nor to the works of our own hands. It does not give empty praise to God (that is, taking his name in vain), but is fervent and real. It takes time (as in the Sabbath) to express thanks to God. It is respectful (thankful) for authority and for the precious value of life. Gratitude delights in covenants preserved, and it does not rob God of his due glory ("you shall not steal", which is what Adam and Eve did). Thanksgiving is giving a true witness as to the source of all blessings, namely, the Lord. Finally, thankfulness is an expression of contentment, as we embrace the boundaries and lines God has placed for us (Ps 16:6; Ac 17:26). As Elisabeth Elliot wrote, "Gratitude springs from acceptance of the gifts and the conditions and the circumstances God gives."
Giving thanks to God should characterize the life of the believer -- "In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." (1 Thess 5:18) Where there is no gratitude and thanksgiving to God, there you will find idolatry, deception, disrespect, murder, the breaking of promises, theft, lies, and lust. People do those things because they are not thankful for who God is and what he has provided and promised. Ingratitude characterizes the fallen condition of mankind -- "For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened." (Romans 1:21)
HOW CAN WE GIVE THANKS? But today, we look around and see our world filled with violence, torn by war, hostile and polarized, corrupt and greedy. Everyone is doing what is right in his or her own eyes. It's hard to feel thankful about anything. We are inundated with news of suffering and injustice all around us. So, how can we give thanks? Like the psalmist, we can thank God for his eternal, unchanging nature, and for his works of salvation and judgment in this world. We give thanks for what God is doing in and around this fallen world to accomplish his good purpose. During the religious and political upheaval of the Reformation, Martin Luther -- with death lurking around every corner of his world -- he wrote (and we can sing with him), "And though this world with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us, We will not fear, for God has willed his truth to triumph through us." (Martin Luther, "A Mighty Fortress").
We do not give thanks FOR everything, because not everything in this present creation is good. But we do give thanks IN everything, as Paul said, in every circumstance and situation (1 Thess 5:18). Because our God is all-powerfully good, we give him thanks that he is working all things together for his glory and for the good of his children (Rom 8:28ff). And this, not only in the big picture, but also in numbering the hairs upon our heads and putting food upon our tables. So...
"Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever." (Psalm 136:26)
WHAT THINGS SHOULD WE GIVE THANKS FOR? Here's a list in case you need a handy summary!
IN OTHER READING.
-- "The Lord is our all-sufficient portion. God fills Himself; and if God is all-sufficient in Himself, He must be all-sufficient for us." --C. H. Spurgeon, "Our All-Sufficient Portion."
-- "Ere long, I learned that it was not myself, but only my shadow, that I had lost. I learned that it is better, a thousand-fold, for a proud man to fall and be humbled, than to hold up his head in his pride and fancied innocence." --George MacDonald, Phantastes. (I just finished reading this.)
-- "The Western tradition is too valuable for it to become the foster child of one political party. It should be handed down, with all candor and suitable critical rigor, to future generations." -- James Hankins, "Classical Education is Not a Right Wing Project".
FINAL QUOTE, perhaps related to your holiday meal...
"Food these days is often identified as the enemy. Butter, salt, sugar, eggs are all out to get you. And yet at our best we know better. Butter is . . . well, butter: it glorifies almost everything it touches. Salt is the sovereign perfecter of all flavors. Eggs are, pure and simple, one of the wonders of the world. And if you put them all together, you get not sudden death, but Hollandaise-- which in its own way is not one bit less a marvel than the Gothic arch, the computer chip, or a Bach fugue. Food, like all the other triumphs of human nature, is evidence of civilization of that priestly gift by which we lift the whole world into the exchanges of the Ultimate City which even God himself longs to see it become." --Robert Farrar Capon, The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection.
That's it for this week, and the next. We'll be visiting with family over the holiday, and this newsletter will resume, Lord willing, the following week. May you have a blessed time of thanksgiving with family and friends!
Sandy
Photo above is from our visit last year to the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.