Giving Thanks to God…
Now is the season to give thanks. I think it easy these days to get a bit cynical and lose our sense of gratitude for what we have. I find the Psalms 100 puts things into perspective, and offers some real reasons to give thanks, its two stanzas, short and sweet:
The psalmist calls people into worship with shouts of joy, glad service, and joyful singing (vv. 1-2). He reminds them that God “has made us, and not we ourselves” (v. 3), or better yet, “It is he who made us, and we are his” (ESV). How great it is to know that we are the masterpiece of a benevolent designer. It is because we are made in the image of God that we can be assured of our own intrinsic worth. When man abandons belief in the creator, he falls into a pit of despair. If the world came about through evolution, there is no reason to believe qualities like love, morality, beauty, and freewill actually exists. They would be merely chemical processes occurring in the body the origins of which came about through a process natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Neither man can explain how a universe of time, matter, and space came out of nothing nor reason why science is a possibility. Can Darwinian naturalism really explain the irreducible complexity of life on earth?
The Creator of the universe doesn’t remain silent, but enters into the human condition. The psalmist understood this and gives thanks, because he knew of God’s goodness, loving-kindness, and faithfulness (vv. 4-5). God demonstrated His goodness, loving-kindness, and faithfulness to the Israelites in delivering them out of Egyptian slavery and bringing them into the promise land. So great was Yahweh that Joshua declared, “Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass” (Joshua 21:45). In the ultimate scheme of things, God became a man, lived among us, died upon the cross and rose again so that through faith lost sinners could receive eternal life. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him (Rom. 5:8-9).
God gives to us our intrinsic worth and purpose. God also saves sinners through the redemptive work of the Son. For this reason, we can give thanks to the Lord for He is good.
Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth.
Serve the Lord with gladness;
Come before Him with joyful singing.
Know that the Lord Himself is God;
It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves;
We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
And His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him, bless His name.
For the Lord is good;
His loving kindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations (Psalm 100:1-5, NASB).
The psalmist calls people into worship with shouts of joy, glad service, and joyful singing (vv. 1-2). He reminds them that God “has made us, and not we ourselves” (v. 3), or better yet, “It is he who made us, and we are his” (ESV). How great it is to know that we are the masterpiece of a benevolent designer. It is because we are made in the image of God that we can be assured of our own intrinsic worth. When man abandons belief in the creator, he falls into a pit of despair. If the world came about through evolution, there is no reason to believe qualities like love, morality, beauty, and freewill actually exists. They would be merely chemical processes occurring in the body the origins of which came about through a process natural selection and the survival of the fittest. Neither man can explain how a universe of time, matter, and space came out of nothing nor reason why science is a possibility. Can Darwinian naturalism really explain the irreducible complexity of life on earth?
The Creator of the universe doesn’t remain silent, but enters into the human condition. The psalmist understood this and gives thanks, because he knew of God’s goodness, loving-kindness, and faithfulness (vv. 4-5). God demonstrated His goodness, loving-kindness, and faithfulness to the Israelites in delivering them out of Egyptian slavery and bringing them into the promise land. So great was Yahweh that Joshua declared, “Not one of the good promises which the Lord had made to the house of Israel failed; all came to pass” (Joshua 21:45). In the ultimate scheme of things, God became a man, lived among us, died upon the cross and rose again so that through faith lost sinners could receive eternal life. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him (Rom. 5:8-9).
God gives to us our intrinsic worth and purpose. God also saves sinners through the redemptive work of the Son. For this reason, we can give thanks to the Lord for He is good.
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