November 18, 2023
When we decide to take notice and give thanks for the numerous blessings bestowed upon us, we are more likely to assume a proper posture before God. God is the giver, and we too often are the obtuse recipients. In acknowledging the grace and goodness that infiltrate our daily lives we can’t help but be thankful. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights.” (James 1:17)
Psalm 107 is an uplifting song of thanksgiving. Four archetypes of divine rescues are described and David, the psalmist, invites those who have been on the receiving end of God’s mercy to give praise. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1) “Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for humankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” (Psalm 107:8-9) The Book of Psalms is filled with words of thanks. “Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it.” (Psalm 118: 19-24)
If you are able, take some time this week reading psalms of praise and thanksgiving as well as listening to a few of your favorite hymns or worship songs. In 1939 Katherine K. Davis wrote a wonderful hymn to the Welsh folk tune “The Ash Grove.” “Let all things now living, a song of thanksgiving to God the Creator triumphantly raise. Who fashioned and made us, protected and stayed us, who guides us and leads to the end of our days. God’s banners fly o’er us; God’s light goes before us, a pillar of fire shining forth in the night, till shadows have vanished and darkness is banished, as forward we travel from light into light.”
Another classic was written in England in 1863 by Folliott Sandford Pierpoint and was sung in the happy scene of Meg’s wedding in the 1994 version of Little Women. “For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies, for the love which from our birth, over and around us lies, Christ our Lord, to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. For the wonder of each hour, of the day and of the night, hill and vale, and tree and flower, sun and moon, and stars of light. Christ our Lord, to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise. For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child, Friends on earth and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild. Christ our Lord, to Thee we raise, this our hymn of grateful praise.” Wherever we find ourselves this Thanksgiving, may we focus on the gifts of God and share this encouragement with others.
celiastone 