So Why Should I Be Thankful?
PSALM NINETY-TWO
In this lesson we learn why “It is good to give thanks to the Lord.”
OVERVIEW
In The Haunted Man, Charles Dickens tells of a chemist troubled with unhappy memories. A phantom offers the haunted man the opportunity to have his memory destroyed. He accepts the offer and not only loses his memory, but gains the power to strip others of their memories as well. The gift was a big disappointment. The man’s misery was so great that he asked the phantom to come back. The tale concludes with the man’s grateful and earnest prayer: “Oh, God, keep my memory green. Keep my memory green. Memory is a word which is both bitter and sweet. It is a strong argument for the soul and for life and for life hereafter.”
Someone said memory is “The well-stored library of the mind.” Memory makes the joys of childhood live again. Memory in the night makes past days appear all over again. Memory restores the blessedness that once we knew when we saw the Lord. and I love this definition best: “Memory is the angel with the backward look.” Memory is the key to gratitude.
Amnesia literally means “without any memory.” We might wish we had amnesia about some things, but it would be very difficult for us to be grateful people if we could not remember what God has done for us. Psalm 92:1, 2 says, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; to declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night.”
In verse 4, the psalmist says it’s good to give thanks and sing praises because “You, Lord, have made me glad through your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.”
Verse 5: “O Lord, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.” In verse 8 he says, “But You, Lord, are on high forevermore.”
When We Give Thanks, We Look Upward
Giving thanks causes us to look upward. Thanksgiving is what we offer God for what He has given us. Psalm 107:21, 22 says, “Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare His works with rejoicing.”
The Apostle Paul went through many difficult things in his lifetime, yet he remained grateful and focused on God. He wrote to the Ephesians, “… giving thanks always for all things to God … ” (Ephesians 5:20). He wrote to the Colossians, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (Colossians 3:17). He wrote to the Thessalonians, “We give thanks to God always for you” (1 Thessalonians 1:2). He wrote to young Timothy, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who has enabled me” (1 Timothy 1:12). He wrote to Philemon, “I thank my God, making mention of you always in my prayers” (Philemon 1:4).
I keep a prayer journal in which I have a section for thanksgiving. At first I thought I would just write what I am thankful for, but I decided that wasn’t a good habit. So I began to write out “Thank you, God, for … ” There are whole pages in that journal filled with thank you’s to God.
When We Give Thanks, We Look Around Us
Giving thanks is good also because it causes us to look around. In addition to his relationship with God, Paul had relationships with people. He couldn’t close a letter without naming all the people with him and all the people at the letter’s destination. He talks about them with fondness, mentions their names, and usually says something about them. He is always giving thanks to God for people. In 1 Timothy 2:1, he says, “Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.” Paul says we’re to give thanks to God for our friends and for our loved ones. He does that often in his epistles. In Acts 28:15 he says, “And from there, when the brethren heard about us, they came to meet us as far as Appii Forum and Three Inns. When Paul saw them, he thanked God and took courage.” Every time Paul was next to somebody whom God sent to minister to him, he was filled with gratitude. In Romans 6:17 he writes, “But God be thanked that though you were servants of sin, yet you obeyed from the heart … ” All of his letters seem to be salted with gratitude for relationships.
I don’t think God ever intended for us to be loners. “The Lone Ranger” is a good story, but it’s not a good lifestyle. Whenever people tell me what God is doing, they speak of relationships. They’ve discovered that growth in the spiritual realm is a lot easier when you grow together with another person who helps and encourages you. I don’t think you can undersell the importance of friendship. If you have someone you’re close to, somebody who ministers to you, puts an arm around you on occasion, cries and laughs with you, the relationship is a very, very important thing for which to give thanks.
In the Bible Belt, they have revival meetings. (We don’t have them much on the West Coast). I went to preach at one for four nights. On Tuesday night after I finished preaching, a young woman told me an experience she had.
She said, “I’m embarrassed to tell you this, Pastor Jeremiah, but Friday I was on my way to take my life. I was so discouraged and felt so useless and worthless. I turned the radio on and I heard this guy teaching the life of David. He was talking about Saul’s suicide.”
She continued, “As I drove down the highway I heard this man say, ‘Some of you may be thinking of doing what Saul did, but don’t you do it. It’s not what God wants for you.’ It shocked me. It was almost like the voice on the radio was talking right to me. I pulled my car off the road, and all I could do was cry.”
“I called a friend and she came and got me. She took me to her house, and I stayed with she and her husband all weekend. They wouldn’t let me leave because they were afraid of what I might do. On Monday she was invited to a revival meeting in Greensboro, North Carolina. When the friend told her a man named David Jeremiah was speaking at the revival, I said, ‘That’s the man I heard talking to me on the radio Friday! What’s he doing in Greensboro?’ ”
As I talked with this young woman, I could tell she was deeply troubled and was going through real struggles. She came to the services every night that week. On Thursday night she came forward and gave her life to Christ. I’m not exaggerating when I say Inever seen a person so visibly transformed by an encounter with the Almighty God. Her face, her countenance, her whole bearing changed. Jesus Christ had come to live within her, and I knew she was a new creation.
God had sent a friend who came and got her at the point of her crisis, put her arm around her, and brought her into her home. Then that friend brought the desperate young woman to hear a message that would help her accept the Lord. When she thanks God for her salvation, she will be very grateful that He sent a friend to help her through a difficult time.
Relationships are vital to our growth and maturity as Christians. When you look around, you can’t help but be thankful for friendships.
We need to be thankful for circumstances, too. I once read a silly little cartoon around Thanksgiving that said, “I won’t say this has been a trying year, but this is the first Thanksgiving we had a turkey volunteer.” That’s really a trying year. Some of you have been through a year like that.
Please look back at Psalm 92:2 and notice it says to “… declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night.” The Psalmist has chosen these words carefully. When I wake up in the morning, I feel the sense of God’s presence in my life. I’m grateful for the night of rest (if indeed it has been such a night) and for being refreshed for the new day.
The Hebrew word that is translated “lovingkindness” is a rich word that describes the goodness and graciousness of God. In the morning the psalmist is overwhelmed with God’s lovingkindness. But at night, it’s a different word. It’s His faithfulness. Havenwe all looked back on a day and seen many places where we could have walked astray if God had not been good to us? We thank Him that He has been faithful to us. In Psalm 119:62 the psalmist even plans to arise and give thanks at midnight.
The Bible tells us to give thanks all of our lives, day in and day out, regardless of the circumstances. I read a poem once that suggested we even take a grateful approach to housework. A sink full of dirty dishes can make us grateful that we have food to eat. Dirty laundry can make us appreciate nice clothes to wear. Unmade beds can remind us to thank God for a good night’s sleep. A dirty bathroom can even make us grateful we have modern conveniences.
Everything that is a difficulty in our eyes is usually, if we look behind it, the evidence of something good God has done for us. When you’re expressing gratitude, look up at God, then at the people around you and the circumstances God has brought into your life.
When We Give Thanks, We Look Within
Giving thanks causes us to look within ourselves, also. When you review this year, what do you see that God has done in your life? How has He helped you grow? Has He strengthened you? Can you look back and say, “It hasn’t been a great year for me, but I have learned a lot about God during this year”?
One writer expressed his gratitude this way:
Lord, thank you for the gift of good health.
Thank you for eyes that see the beauty of Your creation.
For ears that receive the world of sound surrounding us.
Thank you for the special stimulation of taste and touch.
For hands to work with and legs to walk with.
For a mind that is curious and creative and competent.
For memories of past pleasures.
For heartaches that force me to rearrange my priorities.
For broken dreams and lingering affliction that humbles me.
For the courage to tell the truth when it really hurts.
For the determination to finish a demanding task.
For a sense of humor that brought healing and hope.
And for the sheer delight of knowing and walking with You for another year.
When I look inward, I see the traces of God’s hand in my life. I’m not the same man I was last year. Though I’m not what I want to be and not what I ought to be, thank God I’m not what I was.
First we look up. Then we look around. Then we look in.
Louis Smedes wrote an interesting little book called A Pretty Good Person. He talks about courage and grit and all of this sort of thing, but, right up front, interestingly enough, he talks about the fact that a pretty good person is a person with gratitude.
In the book he tells how one cold December morning his wife found him nearly dead on the kitchen floor of their apartment. An ambulance rushed him to the hospital, where they diagnosed that his lungs had numerous blood clots. He survived the twenty-to-one odds against him, and one night he woke feeling extremely grateful.
He says,
I was flying outside of myself. High. Held in weightless lightness as if my earthly existence needed no ground to rest in but was hung in space with only love to keep it aloft. I was so grateful. It was then that I learned that gratitude is the best feeling I would ever feel in all of my life. It was the ultimate joy of living. It was better than winning the lottery. Better than watching your daughter graduate from college. Better and deeper than any other feeling. It is, perhaps, the genesis of all other really good feelings in the human repertoire. I am sure that nothing in life can ever match the feeling of being fully, totally, completely grateful.
To feel thankful, you don’t have to promote it or force it. What you have to do is get alone with your Bible. Read a Psalm. Then do three things: look upward, look around, and look inside.
APPLICATION
1. Review the healing of ten lepers in Luke 17:12–19. When God does something for you, are you more like the leper who thanked Jesus or the nine who forgot?
What did the thankful leper do in verse 16?
What has God done for you that merited that sort of response?
2. What does 1 Thessalonians 5:18 say is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you?
3. It’s easy to fall into the habit of offering “gimmee” prayers that only ask for things. What does Philippians 4:6 say we should add when we’re making requests to God?
4. Where does David promise to give God thanks in Psalm 35:18? Have you ever thanked God publicly?
If so, for what?
5. What did Jesus thank the Father for in John 11:41?
Have you ever thanked God for that?
6. Think carefully and then write things you are thankful for concerning your relationship with God.
Dear God, thank You for …
7. Ponder your relationships with other people. Make a list of their names, and tell God the reasons you’re grateful for those people He has brought into your life.
Dear God, thank You for …
8. What does Romans 8:28 say about your circumstances?
Whether your circumstances seem good or bad, they will ultimately be beneficial, so thank God for them.
Dear God, thank You for …
9. How has God helped you grow? Thank God for those changes.
Dear God, thank You for …
DID YOU KNOW?
Several of the Psalms prophetically predict and describe Christ’s ministry on earth. Read some of these and compare them with the corresponding New Testament passages:
| 1) Psalm 2:7–9 | Matthew 3:17 |
| 2) Psalm 16:10 | Mark 16:6–7 |
| 3) Psalm 22 | John 20:25, 27 |
| 4) Psalm 45 | Hebrews 1:8 |
| 5) Psalm 69:21 | Matthew 27:34 |
| 6) Psalm 110 | Hebrews 5:6 |
LESSON TEN
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