Thanksgiving is Natural…

November 19, 2015 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments

Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement

Thanksgiving is Natural…

…if the gaze of your soul has been captivated by the goodness and majesty of God!

Having a national holiday of Thanksgiving runs the risk of “forcing” us to be thankful, kind of like making your two year old say “thank you” at the ice cream shop. If we are honest with ourselves, we do not always feel thankful. How do we cultivate thankful attitudes (an “attitude of gratitude,” as one of my childhood pastors would say)? What produces thankfulness?

Much like humility, we do not produce thankful hearts by thinking about giving thanks. Thanksgiving is the natural expression of a heart filled up, even overflowing, with joy in God. This means that Christians are to be marked/known by thanksgiving more than unbelievers (cf. Rom. 1:21). Thanksgiving comes from being enamored with God and all he has done for you.

Consider David in Psalm 145. He uses no less than 13 different verbs to describe how the people of God respond to the “greatness” of God: extol, bless, praise, meditate, declare, speak, commend, pour forth, sing aloud, give thanks, tell, make known, and look. This poetic exuberance unveils a man who has been captivated by God.

As much as David commends how the people of God ought to act in the presence of God, he spends more time in the Psalm broadcasting the greatness of God:

The Lord is great (v. 3).
His works are commendable (v. 4).
His acts are mighty (v. 4).
His majesty is gloriously splendid (v.5).
His works are wondrous (v. 5).
His deeds are awesome (v. 6).
His goodness is abundant and famous (v. 7).
The Lord is gracious (v. 8).
The Lord is merciful (v. 8).
The Lord is slow to anger (v. 8).
The Lord is abounding in steadfast love (v. 8).
The Lord is good to all (v. 9).
His mercy is over all (v. 9).
His kingdom is glorious (v. 11).
His power is worthy of telling (v. 11).
His kingdom is everlasting (v. 13).
The Lord is faithful (v. 13).
The Lord upholds (v. 14).
The Lord raises up (v. 14).
The Lord gives food (v. 15).
The Lord opens his hand (v. 16).
The Lord satisfies (v. 16).
The Lord is righteous (v. 17).
The Lord is kind in all his works (v. 17).
The Lord is near (v. 18).
The Lord fulfills the desire of those who fear him (v. 19).
The Lord hears and saves (v. 19).
The Lord preserves all who love him (v. 20).
The Lord destroys the wicked (v. 20).

No less than 29 different statements of God’s goodness and grace! David was a man who had been conquered by the grace of God. His heart delighted in God and God’s ways. David was a “God-besotted” man, as John Piper would say. David’s praise and thanksgiving naturally flowed from enjoying God.

How about you? Is thanksgiving “natural” for you? Our God is glorious and astonishingly gracious. Go deep in meditating on God and his ways and you will grow in thankfulness.

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