The Necessity of Thankfulness

Psalm 118:29 (NKJV)
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Why are you thankful about God thankful today? Today’s verse reminds us that He is good and His mercy endures forever. We learn what goodness actually is from God because God’s very nature is good and He can be nothing less than good. It is good that He displays His mercy for by it, we learn how caring He is toward us and how we should treat others.

Another reason to be thankful to God is the fact that He is worthy. “You are worthy, O Lord, To receive glory and honor and power; For You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created”, (Rev. 4:11, NKJV). God is the creator and sustainer, He owns all things and He keeps it all running. Our heart should be filled with thankfulness that He is in control and not us.

The greatest provision of God for which we need to be thankful is salvation unto man. Just think of it. God, from eternity past, wanted to fellowship with those who willingly love Him. He created the universe and the world and He keeps it all running like a fine tuned machine. In the midst of all this, man sinned and rejected God, wanting no part of God at all. God then left the astounding greatness of heaven, He became a man and experienced greater pain and rejection than any of us will ever know. He then died in our place in order to buy back the relationship that we rejected. All we need to do, after repentance, is trust Him by faith and He will allow us to experience heaven with Him forever. How can we not be thankful for this!

We need to be reminded repeated to thank Him. We need to be thankful of His many provisions. Paul reminds us, “19 And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 20 Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever“, (Phil. 4:19-20). God always provides for our needs, but many of us forget the last three words, “by Christ Jesus”. He will provide for His children, in His way, in His time and this is all for His glory. The amazing fact is that God’s glory is always for our best good. This very fact should make thankfulness spring up within us to the uttermost.

Since God is in control and He does all things for our good, it is then that we can have the same Mindset as Paul. “16 Rejoice always, 18 in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (I Thessalonians 5:16,18, NKJV). The only way we can rejoice always is by securely resting in our God by faith and being contented with His absolute control. A restful trust in God results in thanksgiving and not tension.

Thoughts, comments, objections, prayer requests.

Daniel A. Smith