A Thankful Heart
Introduction: A college student wrote her mom the following letter: "Dear Mom: Sorry I haven’t written sooner. My arm really has been broken. I broke it, and my left leg, when I jumped from he second floor of my dormitory...when we had the fire. We were lucky. A young service station attendant saw the blaze and called the Fire Department. They were there in minutes. I was in the hospital for a few days. Paul, the service station attendant, came to see me every day. And because it was taking so long to get our dormitory liveable again, I moved in with him. He has been so nice. I must admit that I am pregnant. Paul and I plan to get married just as soon as he can get a divorce. I hope things are fine at home. I’m doing fine, and will write more when I get the chance. Love,Your daughter, Susie
P.S. None of the above is true. But I did get a "C" in Sociology and flunked Chemistry. I just wanted you to receive this news in its "Proper Perspective!" (sermonillustrations.com)
To be thankful in all circumstances, we need a proper perspective of our circumstances and of our God. Only then we will be able to give thanks to the Lord always.
A devotional from ODB in 1994 shared the concern that thankfulness seems to be a lost art in modern times. Warren Wiersbe illustrated this problem in his commentary on Colossians. He told about a ministerial student in Evanston, Illinois, who was part of a life-saving squad. In 1860, a ship went aground on the shore of Lake Michigan near Evanston, and Edward Spencer waded again and again into the frigid waters to rescue 17 passengers. In the process, his health was permanently damaged. Some years later at his funeral, it was noted that not one of the people he rescued ever thanked him.
Paul warned “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, . . .”
Thankless times are perilous times. When our wishes are easier to count than our blessings, I think its time to reflect on all the good that God has done. Giving Thanks should not be relegated to a yearly slogan that we only hear around Thanksgiving Holiday. It must be an attitude of our heart.
I Chronicles 16:34 is the same as the first verse in psalm 136:1 - “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.” Three times we are told to give thanks to God in the first three verses.
Transition: we see 3 different aspects of God in whom we are to give thanks. In each description gives a reason to thank him. First we give thanks to God the creator:
Give thanks to God the Creator
“to him who alone does great wonders, his love endures forever. Who spread out the earth upon the waters, his love endures forever. who made the great lights- His love endures forever. the sun to govern the day, His love endures forever. the moon and stars to govern the night; His love endures forever.” Psalm 136:4-9
He does great wonders, he created the kingdom of Heaven and the kingdom of earth and all the universe that is in between. Romans 1:20 says “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” His creation itself declares his existence.
He made the great lights:
First the sun to govern the day, the Sun is no doubt the greatest light we know. We can not look directly at it and yet we can not live without it. The sun calls our attention to all that it grows and without it's own light we would never see the beauty of it. We don't worship the sun like some other cultures do. We know the sun governs the day, because God governs the sun.
And even as the sun turns over its authority to the moon the transformation is wonderful. I don't know of anything more poetically beautiful than an Oklahoma sunset. And it is a grace of God that everyone everywhere, the old and the young, the wealthy and the poor, the man on the beach and the man in the prison yard has been given the same beautiful scene every day.
He created the moon and stars to govern the night. Isaiah said “with my soul have I desired thee in the night.” There is something mysterious and compelling about the night. I've walked in the yard and gazed up at the moon and the stars and felt compelled to thank him, if for nothing more than just what I was gazing at. There is something about the calm and quiet of the night that allows you to think and meditate on the Lord. The moon and the stars draw your attention up toward God and to praise him. As great as these lights that govern the day and night are. They are merely created instruments from God to whom we are to be thankful. David said “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that you care for them?” Psalm 8:3,4
It is said that wise men only wonder once, and that is always. Fools never wonder because they are fools, they take in beauty as it is pleasurable to them but they never see the God behind any of it and they are never grateful for it.
When we consider all the wonders of nature, who but God should we thank for it? Every rainbow, every waterfall, every majestic mountain top to every hill country in the fall time as the leaves change to red, orange, gold and brown – even the dying leaves from all the trees, both big and small glow with brilliantly warm colors that soften the heart and excite the mind but they only stay around long enough to capture our affection and signal that the family gatherings of autumn retreats, deer camps, foot ball games, and thanksgiving, and shortly Christmas is soon ahead.
Transition: We thank God that he created us and the nature that surrounds us. We now give thanks to God our savior.
Give thanks to God the Savior
“to the one who remembered us in our low estate His love endures forever. And freed us from our enemies. His love endures forever.” v.23, 24
If there is ever a reason to thank God its for the Savior. He remembered you when you hit rock bottom. What lower estate is there than for a man to be crucified? Publicly humiliated and tortured to death. When the thief on the cross could have easily looked at this man hanging beside him as a fellow criminal, he saw the Christ and he humbly asks “remember me” “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” He had to believe that Jesus had a kingdom for him to be remembered in. When you were in the humiliation of that low estate and everyone you ever knew or cared about had given you up for lost, like the prodigals father hoping, praying, waiting, and remembering his lost son, Jesus remembered you and said “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” The whole world gave up on you but God never did, and he did what no one else could do. He freed us from your enemies.
The preceding verses describe the story of God delivering the Israelites out of Egypt and guiding them to their own promised land. Under the tyranny of Pharaoh, the Hebrews had no rest, no breaks, no freedom, and if there was no sweat on their brows there would be blood on their backs. The taskmaster's whip made sure they were slaving away for Pharaoh’s benefit, for Pharaoh’s glory, and for Pharaoh’s kingdom. Before Jesus set us free, we were all slaves to sin, laboring away for Satan's benefit and for his kingdom. Satan's kingdom is filled with slaves; slaves to sin and sin is a cruel taskmaster, and all it offers you is a lake of fire as a reward for your service. Why would anyone live under the yoke of sin, when Jesus yoke is easy; why would anyone carry the burden of guilt and shame when the only burden Christ offers, is a light one.
Do you remember what saved the Hebrews from the angel of death? It was the blood of a lamb over their doorpost. We don't need a lamb from sheep, we have the lamb of God! Our enemy kept us captive for as long as he could and we would still be there but Christ remembered us in our low estate and thanks to the cross he freed us from all three of our enemies. Through the atonement of his blood he sets you free from your enemy of sin, through the power of himself, he sets you free from the power of your enemy the devil, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, he sets you free from your enemy the world. We give thanks to God the Savior for remembering us in our low estate and setting us free from our enemies. He is a deliverer and a savior!
Transition: God not only provides for our greatest need which is eternal salvation but also for our physical need, so we give thanks to God our provider.
Give Thanks to God the Provider
“and who gives food to every creature. His love endures forever.” v.25
The hunger of every creature is known to God and the need of every creature never escapes his attention. He sees the elephant in the densest jungle that just made its way to the water hole and he provides the plant that feeds the aphid that leaves the honeydew that feeds the ant that feeds the anteater. He sees it all and cares enough to provide food for every living creature. Wherever God gives life He gives food sufficient for it to live and if he provides for the largest animals to the smallest bugs why should we doubt that he will provide for Christians who are his family. We provide for our children, why would the children of God be neglected? We provide for our wives, why would he let the bride of Christ starve? Jesus said in Matthew 6:26 “Look at the birds they do not sow or reap or store away in barns and yet your heavenly Father feeds them, are you not much more valuable than they?”
“Well” someone will say “what about the starving children in Africa?”
The truth is, if there were no trouble there could be no gratitude. If everything was always pleasant how then would we know what “pleasant” was. If there was no pain we would never know relief. If there was no evil we wouldn't understand what good is. If life wasn't in one degree or another difficult then how could you and I be thankful when the the difficulties have been overcome? We would become like spoiled children that not only got everything they ever wanted but we would begin to expect it and demand it! How then could we be thankful for God's great mercy and great grace?
We are to pray for our daily bread. And we are to give thanks to God the provider of that bread. When times are good or when times are hard, we give thanks to God for his mercy and provision.
I would like to read to you what Governor William Bradford proclaimed in 1623, 3 years after the Pilgrims settled at Plymouth:
“To all ye Pilgrims, Inasmuch as the great father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as he has protected us from the raids of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday November ye 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty three, and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Plymouth rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.”
This is the very heart of Thanksgiving. We are thankful to God for all His blessings!
The thing that strikes me is how thankful these few were in the face of adversity. They had no government agency to help them build homes. The only transportation they had was their legs. Just as the Israelites collected all the manna they could, the pilgrims food came from the sea and the forest but they had to get it for themselves. They had no money and no place to spend it if they'd had any. They had no amusements except what they made for themselves, no way of communicating with their relatives in England, no social security or medicare. They risked it all for the freedom to worship God according to their conscience and they were thankful that God
This Thursday is Thanksgiving Day. Thanksgiving is a unique holiday in the fact that it doesn't commemorate a certain battle, it does not celebrate anyone's birthday or anniversary. It is simply one day a year in which we, like those early pilgrims set aside time in our busy schedules to give thanks to God.
Conclusion: We spent our time reflecting on who we should be thankful to. The question that answers itself in verse 1 is “for what reason do we give thanks to him?” “Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good...”
HE IS GOOD! We give thanks to God because he is good to us. How is he good? Well, we read 26 times in one Psalm how he is good: “His love endures forever.”
How great is God's love. How great is his mercy. If you think “I can't be pardoned. I've already been pardoned so many times before. How can I be pardoned again?” Remember his love and his mercy endures forever! His love creates for you, His love provides for you, and his love saves and delivers you.
We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Be sure to have a Happy Thanksgiving.
