Thanksgiving and Praise
--PSALM 100
“ Everyone is familiar with Sherlock Holmes, his faithful companion Dr. Watson, and Holmes’s keen power of observation that solved countless crimes. Yet few of us know that Holmes thought deduction and observation were even more necessary to religion. Tucked away in "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty," Holmes is found studying a rose. Watson narrates: "He walked past the couch to an open window and held up the drooping stalk of a moss rose, looking down at the dainty blend of crimson and green. It was a new phase of his character to me, for I had never before seen him show an interest in natural objects.
" ’There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion,’ said he, leaning with his back against the shutters. ... ’Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its color are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers.’"
“What other "extras" should we be observing and thanking God for this year?”
[SOURCE: Chris T. Zwingelberg. Elgin, Illinois. Leadership, Vol. 6, no. 3.]
The Jewish Feast of Tabernacles, Booths, or Sukkot, is a Harvest Celebration similar in nature to our American Thanksgiving. 2006 is the year 5767 in the Jewish calendar, and Sukkot this year was observed between October 6th and 13th. It celebrates both God’s protection over the Israelites as they wondered through the Wilderness for 40 years and the end of the long harvest season when the farmers harvested their cereal crops and grapes. Jews were to come to the Temple in Jerusalem with their offerings from the harvest and joyfully worship God in giving Him thanks and praise. Perhaps Psalm 100 was written for this glad Day of Thanksgiving Worship in the Temple. Therefore, Psalm 100 is a most appropriate text for our observance of our own Thanksgiving this year.
The Temple of Jesus’ Day was surrounded by four courtyards, each enclosed by walls on each side. Each courtyard in turn was entered through various gates, or doorways in the surrounding wall enclosures. The Outer Courtyard was the Court of the Gentiles into which people of all nationalities had access. The second court was the Court of the Women, and all Jews whether they be men, women, or children could enter. Next came the Court of Israel into which only Jewish men could come and worship. The inner court that surrounded the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies was the Court of the Priests, and only the priests could enter this courtyard for the purpose of ministry.
The Day of Sukkot or Thanksgiving would find God’s people processing to the Temple for joyful worship, and so the Psalmist calls upon them to come into the presence of God by “entering His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise.”
I love Hebrew poetry. It usually consists of two line couplets that repeat a similar idea. This is a literary devise called parallelism. In verse three we have the example of what is called synonymous parallelism:
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
The second line simply repeats the same thought as the first line by simply using different words.
Thanksgiving and praise are synonyms; they have similar meanings. However, in the Great Thanksgiving in our communion liturgy we always declare, “It is right to give God thanks and praise.” It may be splitting hairs, but we can see a subtle difference between thanksgiving and praise in Scripture. We thank God for the things He has done for us while we praise God for Who He is. It is no only “right to give God thanks and praise” when we participate in Holy Communion or this coming Thursday as we celebrate our American Thanksgiving Traditions ; we should give God thanks and praise in all times and in all places.
Andrae Crouch expresses the true spirit of thanksgiving for what Jesus has done for him, for you, and for me so well in his great contemporary classic “My Tribute”:
How can I say thanks for the things You have done for me,
Things so undeserved,
Yet You give to prove Your love for me,
The voices of a million angels,
Could not express my gratitude,
All that I am, and ever hope to be,
I owe it all to Thee.
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
To God be the glory,
For the things He has done,
With His blood He has saved me,
With His power He has raised me,
To God be the glory,
For the things he has done.
[SOURCE: http://www.redsal.com/church16.htm]
I THANK God “that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses me from all sin” and that I “know Him and the power of His resurrection.”
I also thank God as does Joseph Bayly in PSALMS OF MY LIFE in these words:
Thank You God that
You see
armies march
a sparrow fall
hear
atom’s blast
a baby’s cry
smell volcano’s flow
a man’s sweat
feel
contour of mountains
a little lump
taste ocean’ salt
my tears.
[SOURCE Joseph Bayly in Psalms of My Life. Christianity Today, Vol. 33, no. 14.]
James Hewett also tells this story that teaches us to thank God for the things He has done: “It was Thanksgiving in the nursing home. The small resident population was gathered about their humble Thanksgiving table, and the director asked each in turn to express one thing for which they were thankful. Thanks were expressed for a home in which to stay, families, etc. One little old lady in her turn said, ‘I thank the Lord for two perfectly good teeth, one in my upper jaw and one in my lower jaw that match so that I can chew my food.’” [SOURCE: James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., 1988) p. 263.]. Be always conscious to thank God for the little things He daily does for you.
We must also always praise God because of Who He is. The Scriptural possibilities here are endless, but note one thing our text affirms: “His steadfast love is everlasting.” Never cease to praise God because God is love. When Moses met the Lord on the Mountain Exodus 34:5-7 affirms:
“The LORD, the LORD,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
yet by no means clearing the guilty. . .”
Praise God for He is loving and just.
The Psalmist finally reminds us to praise God because He is faithful: “His faithfulness endures from generation to generation.” Jeremiah affirms the same truth in Lamentations 3:22-23:
The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases,
his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
In his contemporary Christian praise and worship song “Forever” Praise God,
Because He is faithful:
Give thanks to the Lord
Our God and King
His love endures forever
For He is good, He is above all things
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
With a mighty hand
and outstretched arm
His love endures forever
For the life that’s been reborn
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
Sing praise, sing praise
Yeah
Forever God is faithful
Forever God is strong
Forever God is with us
Forever
Forever
From the rising to the setting sun
His love endures forever
By the grace of God
We will carry on
His love endures forever
Sing praise, sing praise
Sing praise, sing praise
Yeah
Forever God is faithful
Forever God is strong
Forever God is with us
Forever
Forever
Forever God is faithful
Forever God is strong
Forever God is with us
Forever
Forever
Forever
His love endures forever
His love endures forever
His love endures forever
Forever
Sing praise, sing praise
Sing praise, sing praise
Yeah
Forever you are faithful
Forever you are strong
Foerver you are with us
Forever
And ever
Yeah
Forever you are faithful
Forever you are strong
Forever you are with us
Forever
Forever
You are God.....
Forever
And ever and ever ....
[SOURCE: http://www.singulartists.com/artist_c/chris_tomlin_lyrics/forever_lyrics.html].
Praise God for He is faithful.
Dr. Warren W. Wiersbe, a former pastor of Chicago’s Moody Church,
was long time General Director and Bible Teacher for the “Back to the Bible” radio
broadcast. In A TIME TO BE RENEWED he summarizes a life of thanksgiving and praise so well in reminding us: “Some people are appreciative by nature, but some are not; and it is these latter people who especially need God’s power to express thanksgiving. We should remember that every good gift comes from God and that He is (as the theologians put it) ‘the Source, Support, and End of all things.’ The very breath in our mouths is the free gift of God. Thankfulness is the opposite of selfishness. The selfish person says, ‘I deserve what comes to me! Other people ought to make me happy.’ But the mature Christian realizes that life is a gift from God, and that the blessings of life come only from His bountiful hand.” [SOURCE: Warren W. Wiersbe in A Time To Be Renewed. Christianity Today, Vol. 32, no. 17.]
As mature Christians, may we always give God our thanks and praise, because all our blessings indeed “come only from His bountiful hand."
