WHY DO WE GIVE THANKS TO GOD     PART 1 Psalm 124:1-8

¹If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, now may Israel say;

² If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us:

³Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their anger was kindled against us:

⁴Then the wasters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:

⁵Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.

⁶Blessed be the Lord, who had not given us as a prey to their teeth.

⁷Our soul is escaped as a bird, out of the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we are escaped.

⁸Our help is in the name of the Lord, who make heaven and earth. 

Giving thanks is a practice that does not come to many people easily because when they look at their lives, they believe there is nothing worth giving thanks to God for. They convince themselves that thanking God should be done by those that the Almighty God has showered His blessings on but that this is not right for them.  They believe there is no justification for thanking God as He is yet to meet them at the point of their need and grant their request.

But this is not correct if properly considered. Everyone has reason(s) to thank God.  There is no one who does not have a reason to thank God.  It is only when we can not think or we are of shallow mind that we will not give thanks.  A thoughtful person will be a thankful person.  A man grumbling and complaining about not having shoe(s) will thank God when he sees a man without legs.  A lady who thinks she does not have good clothes will thank God when she sees another insane lady naked.

Oh how ungrateful we often are! Often times, many of us are not grateful for God’s kindnesses and manifold blessings in our lives.  All we are concerned about is what is yet to happen that we fail to see what has happened.  We remember so constantly answers to prayers that are yet to manifest that we forget answers to prayers we are already enjoying. We regularly violate God’s instruction concerning giving thanks.

That is why  1 Thessalonians 5¹⁸ says, “In everything, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.” Also, Ephesians 5^{18 -20} says ¹⁸ “And not be drunk with wine, wherein in excess but be filled with the Spirit.  ¹⁹Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing  and making melody in your heart to the Lord.  ²⁰Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”  From the scriptures above, we can derive that we should give thanks to God at all times and in all circumstances and situations which include both positive and negative, favourable and unfavourable, successful and unsuccessful etc.

In the same vein, Colossians 3¹⁷ says, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him”

I want us to look critically at some reasons from God’s Word why we should always give thanks to the Lord and trust Him and have it at the back of our mind that this will jump-start us to take thanksgiving as a way of life. All these reasons will make us to see beyond the usual selfish reasons we put forward for thanking God or for not thanking God. Thanking God is not just about what He has done for you that you can see. Even if we think God has not done anything for us (which are not true) we still owe Him an obligation to always give thanks to Him.

1.     FOR HIS NAME AND HIS GREATNESS:  The Bible talks of all the tribes of Israel (the Lord’s people) making their   pilgrimage to Jerusalem to give thanks to the name of the Lord, as the law requires of Israel (Psalm 122⁴).  God also requires thanks from us too as the spiritual Israelites.  We are also expected to thank Him because of His greatness – He is a great God. ²“Let us come to him before His presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.  ³For the Lord is a great God, and a great King above all gods” (Psalm 95:2-3)

           

2.      FOR  HIS  HOLINESS:    God deserves your thanks because of His holiness. Always remember this and give Him thanks even if answers to your          prayers are yet to manifest for which you will love to share testimony          before the congregation in your church and among your friends.  “Sing unto the Lord, O  ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness” (Psalm      30⁴)

The Book of Psalms in general speaks of God’s wonderful deeds and praises His holy name respectively. God expects nothing less than this from us.  Psalm 97¹² , Psalm 106⁴⁷

     

3.      FOR  HE IS GOOD AND HIS MERCY ENDURES FOREVER The Almighty God needs to be appreciated for His mercy.  That  is why the Bible says “Praise ye the Lord. O Give thanks to the Lord;  for He is good: for His mercy endures forever” .  Also several passages in the Book of Psalms says the same thing. For example, Psalm 106¹, Psalms 107¹ and    Psalms118^{1, 29} says: “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His mercy endures forever”  God’s mercy, His steadfast love does not exist for a season; it does not exist temporarily. It exists forever, that is why we are still alive today.  If not for His mercy,  His unfailing love,   where will we (you and I) have been? The 26 verses of Psalm 136    also tell us of His faithful love that endures forever and for all of  this He deserves our thanks.

4.       FOR HIS UNSPEAKABLE GIFT:     2 Corinthians 9¹⁵ says, “Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift”.  Unspeakable here could mean  priceless, indescribable, too wonderful for words. The New Living Translation says, “Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!”.  This by interpretation refers to the  grace of God to man. When last did you thank God for  His gift to you? The greatest gift He has given us is His son.  Gift  unspeakable! Or don’t you think Jesus is a wonderful  gift to the world?

5.        FOR  OUR SALVATION AND THAT OF OTHERS    When was he last time that  you thank God for your salvation, the salvation of your loved ones and that of  others? We have that for granted almost everything even including our salvation.  A lot of people would give everything and anything to be where we are i.e. to be saved.  We don’t often    thank Him for this except to complain and grumble about what He is yet to do for us – that promotion you have been expecting, that top flight job  you have been praying for, that house you have been believing God for money to buy, the car  and so on. The Bible says in the  book of  2 Thessalonians 2¹³  “But we are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit  and belief of the truth”

Prior to this, Paul had in his first letter thanked God for the people receiving the Word of God and accepting it as God’s Word and not man’s word.  “For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God  which ye heard of us, ye receive it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe.  1 Thessalonians 2¹³. This is a good lesson   for believers of the Word.

When we take our salvation for granted, we are committing an unpardonable.  It is a sin to take salvation for granted. Salvation may be free but remember   that  somebody paid for it; he paid  for it with his own life.  He died like a criminal on the cross when  in fact, he never sinned. When people open their hearts to hear  and accept the Word of God, it is something to thank God for. When they give their lives to Jesus, it’s worth thanking God for. And when these new believers keep standing in faith despite all trials and afflictions, we ought to give thanks to God. Paul   said in 1 Thess. 3^{7-10 7}“Therefore, brethren, we  were comforted over you in all our afflictions and distress by your faith.  ⁸For now we live  in all our distress and persecution we  were encouraged about  you , if   we stand fast in the Lord.     ⁹For what thanks can we render to God again for you for all the joy wherewith we joy for your sakes before our God.   ¹⁰Night and day praying exceedingly that we might see your face and might perfect that which is lacking in  faith.”

6.     FOR GOD’S RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT:          This wonderful God is a righteous judge. His righteousness is made   most evident in His judgments. Psalm 119⁶² says,     “At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee because of thy righteous judgments”. When God gives  instructions, they are to be are not harsh.  It’s the devil  obeyed and not discarded.  It is the devil that is deceiving and giving us the impression that they harsh and he deceives us and want us to believe that he loves us more than God.  That was the lie he told Eve in the garden of Eden.  Every sin starts with a lie    told somebody by the devil.  God’s instructions, laws,  commandments are for our own good.    God is not against us.    We become our own enemies when we violate His Word and  thereby making His judgment to come upon us.    

7.        BECAUSE IT IS THE WILL OF GOD FOR YOU :    In the book of  1 Thessalonians 5:18, the Bible says “ In every thing, give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ  Jesus concerning you.”  This scripture means is telling us that when we fail to in certain circumstances or situations for  the reason(s) best known to us, we are outside the will of         God. By God’s standard, there is no circumstance beyond      or above giving thanks to God.   So, whatever we are passing through, either palatable or not, let us always give thanks.

8.       BECAUSE IT IS A GOOD THING:           We should desist from grumbling, murmuring  or complaining because this is bad as children of the most High.  Giving of thanks is good either to God or as a show of  gratitude to man for favours.  Ingratitude is a sin. From God’s own very perspective,  any man that refuses to thank God or show   appreciation will have his/her sea of kindness dry up. Ingratitude is – failure to acknowledge, recognize, validate, appreciate God and people for the good things they have done and this is extremely dangerous as it will block blessings from flowing in.

That is why Psalm 92:1 says, “It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, to sing  praises unto thy name, O Most High” .  In the book of Luke 17:17-19 , when  Jesus healed the ten lepers, it is only one of them who        happens to be a Samaritan that came back to show appreciation and he was the only one that was made whole. “¹⁷And Jesus answering said, ‘Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine? ¹⁸There are not found that returned to  give glory to God, save this  stranger.’   ¹⁹And he said unto him,  ‘Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made  thee whole’”. God expects us to come unto   Him with thanksgiving. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to the Most High. Have you done that today?

9.     FOR WE ARE ALIVE:  It is only the living that can  give thanks to the Lord and praise his holy name. The  dead  can not do that. Also, it is the living wise ones that can give thanks to God.  So, be wise, give thanks to Him while you are still alive because you will die one day.  The Bible says in the book of  Hebrews  9²⁷  “And as it is appointed unto men once to die and after   this    the judgment.”.  So it is advisable that before death comes, give thanks to Him and not just ordinary thanks but quality thanks and worthy praise. Psalm 6⁵ says, “For in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks? The dead can not offer thanks to the Lord; only the living can.

10.   FOR GOD AVENGES THE ENEMY’S ATTACK ON YOU:   The book of Psalm 79^12-13 says “O Lord, pay back our neighbors seven times for the scorn they have hurled at you.   Then we your people, the sheep of  your         pasture,   will thank you forever and ever praising your  greatness from generation to generation”.  This is telling us that God is the enemy of those who come against His children, His own elect. He will fight on our behalf and pay the evil ones back  for any evil done against any one of us. This He does by reason of covenant  relationship with Him. Any attack against God’s children is indirectly an attack against God, and God will avenge.  We need to thank  God because He is the one who pays back those who  harm          us, He subdues the nations under us and rescues us from our enemies. (Psalm 18:47-48) He does not allow the enemy to escape with their attack against us.