Many years ago Rudyard Kipling was a popular writer, and it was reported that he was getting ten
shillings for every word he wrote. Some students at Oxford University, who were not impressed
with Kipling, sent him ten shillings with the request that he send them one of his very best words.
He sent a cable back with one word, and it was the word, thanks. This is certainly one of the very
best words in the vocabulary of any person. Sometimes it is a battle to make it relevant, however. A
mother said to her little boy who had just received a bag of candy from the clerk, "What do you say
to the man?" The little guy responded, "Charge it!"
Saying thanks seems irrelevant to many who reason that if you get paid for what you do, thanks
is unnecessary. If it is a person's duty to perform a service, then he deserves no thanks. Almost
unbelievable is the fact that Meister Eckhart, a Christian mystic, even applied this logic to God. He
said, "I never give God thanks for loving me, because he cannot help it, whether he would or no it is
his nature to." We can be thankful that the biblical writers came to no such cold conclusion. The
Psalmist, for example, knows God is good by nature, but that is the very reason for his thanksgiving,
and not a reason for withholding thanks.
It is God's nature that is the basis for His day of thanks, and in verse 24 we see the well known
verse so often quoted: "This is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Someone
put it in poetry this way: "This is the day, the solemn day, which the Lord God has made. In it we
will be glad, and joy shall all our hearts pervade." This verse is usually applied to any and every
day, and that application is valid, for what day is it that God has not made? People have put this
verse on their walls so that each morning when the awake they are reminded that this is God's day,
and they should use it well and rejoice in it. However, in this context the Psalmist is referring to a
specific day of celebration and thanksgiving.
Scholars are not in agreement entirely, but the generally accepted view is that it is written for a
day of rejoicing after the return from Babylon, and when the temple had been rebuilt. Ezra 3:10-11
gives us a picture of the attitude of the people at that time. "And when the builders laid the
foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and
the Levites, the sons of Aseph, with cymbols, to praise the Lord.... and they sang responsively,
praising and giving thanks to the Lord, for He is good. For His steadfast love endures forever
toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord...."
It is a setting in which this hymn of thanks fits well, and scholars have divided it up to show how
it was sung responsively by different groups. The point is, the Psalm was written for a special
occasion of thanks, and though it is true every day is to be a day of thanks, so it is also true that there
are certain days in which we give special attention to thanksgiving. There is a danger in making too
much of special days, but there is also the danger of making too little of them. Without days of
remembrance of our heritage we will tend to forget. That is why Jesus instituted the Lord's Supper,
and that is why it is wise of us to set specific days aside for review and thanksgiving. Every Sunday
is unique in that we do what is not done other days. Holidays like Thanksgiving should also be used
as unique opportunities to praise God.
This is the day the Lord hath made;
He calls the hours His own.
Let heaven rejoice, let earth be glad,
And praise surround the throne.
Let us give thanks to the Lord for He is good. There is little we can give to God that is not a
returning to Him of what He has already given to us. Time and substance are God's gifts to us.
Thanksgiving, however, is a product of our own will, and to give God thanks is to give something
that is uniquely our own. That is why the thankful heart is so pleasing to God. We need to
recognize that the praise of God is not for the purpose of making man feel like an insignificant
nothing. The purpose is to give man assurance and security in the knowledge that in God he has a
resource for all his needs. God's steadfast love endures forever is the theme repeated over and over.
All else may change and decay, but God's love is permanent. Grace Noll Crowell put the message in
poetry.
Whatever else be lost among the years,
God still abides, and love remains the same,
And bravery will glimmer through men's tears,
And truth will keep its clean and upright name.
As long as life lasts, there will ever be
Kindness and justice and high loyalty.
Lode-stars for men to stir their courses by,
The eternal things of life can never die.
Because the Psalmist is assured of this, he is able to say in verse 6 that he is free from the fear of
man. If one fears God and has the security of God's eternal love, he need never fear men. To fear
God and keep His commandments is not only the whole duty of man, it is also his whole difficulty.
All our fears and insecurity are due to our inability to fear God and rest on His eternal love. It is
easier to quote poetry about it than actually live in the proper state of mind. Part of our problem is
that it is hard to think in terms of forever. We know that life can be dangerous, and Jesus said that
men can even kill us but we are not to fear that, but to fear God. To be killed or tortured sounds like
something to fear, but if we truly rest on the goodness and eternal love of God, even this will be
nothing to be alarmed about. Total security and fearless living depends on perfect faith in the nature
of God, and an awareness that if God be for us who can be against us?
This sounds like pride to say that God is on my side, and many are the stories of those who are
careful to say there were on God's side rather than saying God was on their side. I have read
criticism of the well-known book titled God Is My Co-pilot. This sounds as if God is in second
place, and only a helper rather than the one doing the flying. It is always a danger that we make
God our servant, but on the hand, it is equally dangerous and false to suggest that God does take
over our lives completely and do the flying. The fact is, God does help and assist when we will to
give our lives to the doing of His will. We need a balanced view between being mere robots of God
and being totally self-sufficient. We must work out our own salvation knowing it is God who works
in us. We can say that God is on our side when we have chosen to be on His side.
Though foes assail I will not fear,
For at my side the Lord is near;
The Lord my helper, I shall win
The victory o'er the hosts of sin.
The Lord with me, I will not fear
Though humans might oppose;
The Lord my helper, I shall be,
Triumphant o'er my foes.
With deity as one's defense, one need not fear men. Lincoln recognized this as he made his
farewell speech in Springfield, Ill. He said, "I now leave, not knowing when, or whether ever, I may
return, with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington. Without the
assistance of that Divine Being who ever attended him I cannot succeed. With that assistance I
cannot fail." God was with him because he fought for a cause pleasing to God, and he gained the
victory. We can thank God even more than the Jews in this Psalm, for we have always been blest
with victory, and have not needed the judgment of God as they did. This does not mean that our
hope is in our leaders, for as the Psalmist says in verses 8-9 our refuge and confidence is not in man
and princes, but in the Lord.
No trust in men, or kings of men, can confidence afford,
But they are strong, and sure their trust, whose hope is in the Lord.
This does not mean we can be indifferent in men and to what our leaders do. It means that they
too must put their confidence in God and not in men if they are to lead us well. There is nothing the
President, or anyone in the world can do to give us the assurance of God's love and salvation. This
is a matter of our personal trust in God and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Victory over sin will not be
easier because of any party or person in office. Spurgeon said, "In eternity a prince's smile goes for
nothing." All men will fail to meet our personal needs, and so it is foolish to trust them when the
Lord offers to meet these needs. "Tis better for to trust the Lord than on man's aid rely. Yeah, better
for to trust the Lord than trust in princes high." This is the day to remember this, when there are so
many idols that people look to.
In verse 10-12 the Psalmist shows the dangerous position he was in, but how he conquered by
God's help. The literal battle and victory here illustrates the spiritual battle of every believer. All of
us are surrounded by enemy forces, but in the name of the Lord we can conquer. Like bees the
enemy swarms about us, but if we put our confidence in God rather than man we shall be victorious.
"Though nations compass me about, the swarming hosts of sin, Yet in the name of God the Lord I
shall the victory win." This hope of the Old Testament of certain victory in the name of the Lord
became a Christian hope by adding the name of Jesus Christ. In His name we conquer all foes.
Jesus the name high over all,
In hell, or earth, or sky.
Angels and men before it fall,
And devils fear and fly.
In case you may be wondering where all the poetry comes from, everyone of the Psalms has
been put into poetry by a number of different poets, and so every verse in the Psalms can be stated in
a variety of ways in poetry. The Psalms use to be the only hymns sung in the church, and that is
why they have all been made into poetry.
In verse 13 the Psalmist says he was almost sunk on his own, and would have been had the Lord
not helped him. This is true of all of us. God not only helps those who help themselves, but more
important, he helps those who cannot help themselves. It is this that fills with joy, and cause him in
verse 14 to say that the Lord is my strength and my song. "The foe has sought to cast me down,
Jehovah has made me strong. He brings salvation unto me, He is my strength and song." He is my
strength while in conflict, and my song when the battle is won. If God is your strength then, he will
be your song, for victory is the only alternative for those who fight with God's help. Heaven is filled
with the song of victors.
Extol the Lamb with loftiest song,
Ascend for Him cheerful strain,
Worship and thanks to Him belong,
Who reigns and shall forever reign.
God has become my salvation he says, and certainly there is no greater pause for praise and
song and no greater theme for thanksgiving. There is much more he says, but this is a good peak on
which to close. For the believer every day is the day of salvation, and so this is the day for
thanksgiving. "This is the day the Lord has made, let us be glad and sing. Lend now prosperity, O
Lord, O Lord, salvation bring." Let us be thankful every day for our salvation and for the
opportunity to share this good news with others. Let us give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good.
