Being Thankful
We are to thank God consistently for
His goodness, His eternal love, and His faithfulness.
Here's Gene:
Thankfulness is a theme that really
runs through the psalms.
And particularly these psalms that
have to do with praise and adoration and expressions.
Especially the music that was written,
the words that were written for Israel.
And the worship in the Old Testament setting.
Here's a very familiar passage
in terms of thanksgiving.
In Psalm 100, verses 4 and 5:
Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal;
His faithfulness endures through all generations.
A great passage.
And the New Testament really affirms this.
For example when the apostle Paul
was writing to the Thessalonians,
notice what he says:
Rejoice always! ...
That's a spirit of joy, of happiness.
...ray constantly. ...
That really is a reflection of some of
the things we've seen in the Psalms.
...Give thanks in everything, for this is
God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
So Paul is affirming, really what we
read here in this psalm.
Now, let me clarify something.
In terms of what it means to give thanks
in everything. I believe this is misinterpreted.
And let me give this to you as a statement.
Paul was not teaching that we're to
give thanks for tragedies.
There are some people that,
in a very insensitive way, have said in
the midst of a tragedy:
Have you been able to thank God yet for this tragedy?
To me, that's one of the
most insensitive things that you could ever say.
Paul was not teaching that we are to
give thanks for tragedies in our lives,
but to be thankful.
And here's what I believe he is teaching.
But to be thankful that in these tragedies,
God's goodness towards us, His love for us,
His faithfulness to His promises
concerning us will never fail.
And that makes sense, doesn't it?
To thank God in situations that are
so painful that we can't understand.
They're even caused by evil, evil people.
Wicked things that happen.
Innocent people. Tragedies.
Yet God is sovereign.
And we can thank God in the midst of
those difficult circumstances that He'll
never leave us nor forsake us.
In fact, the author of Hebrews
captures that in chapter 13, verse 5:
Your life should be free from the love of money. ...
And here he's dealing with material things. He says:
Be satisfied with what you have,
for He Himself has said, I will never
leave you or forsake you.
Now the fact of the matter is, there are times
where we're human and we wonder where
God is in the midst of this tragedy.
But the fact is, by faith, with God's strength,
we can thank God that He's with us.
We may not understand it now,
but we will understand it in eternity.
We have God's presence with us.
To affirm this promise, the author of Hebrews
also quoted David--or shared David's testimony--
which really comes out of the 23rd Psalm.
A paraphrase: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
It's interesting, in a Reflection and
Response question here,
I want you to see a Principle that
comes from a previous psalm.
I've called this Principle 53.
And now here is Principle 95.
How does Paul's experience in prison
illustrate and affirm Principles 53 and 95
in [these] Psalms?
Well, here's Principle 53.
I call this Our Eternal Hope.
And this was in the midst of darkness for David,
if you go back and look at the psalm.
When we face persecution,
we should trust God, being assured
that evil people may be able to destroy
our bodies but never our souls.
When you look at the Principle we've just looked
at from this psalm, Principle 95:
We are to thank God consistently
for His goodness, His eternal love, and His faithfulness.
Why? They may destroy our bodies,
but never our souls.
I think of Paul, Silas.
And this is an amazing scene.
They have been beaten.
Blood is running down their backs.
They're in chains--the inner prison in Philippi.
And at midnight--at midnight,
they're singing songs of praise to God.
Now that's God's grace and that's God's strength.
I could only hope that in a situation like that
I would have that kind of grace.
I see that in people's lives and I can only by faith say:
Lord, I hope that if I'm ever in
that circumstances, you'll give me that grace.
I believe God's promised that
in the midst of those circumstances.
And we can't really experience until we're in it.
But that's a wonderful hope that we have.
And Paul demonstrates that in his
own life in other situations. Praising God.
Of course, you know the end of the story.
That when they were singing praises,
suddenly there's this incredible earthquake.
And their chains fell off.
And the doors of the prison flew open.
And the jailer, the Philippian jailer was just panicked.
In fact, he took his sword and was going
to kill himself because he knew that
he would be killed because of derelict of duty.
That's how they would view it.
The Roman officials wouldn't see it as a miracle.
Paul called out: Don't do yourself any harm
because we're all here--
all the prisoners are here.
And this is an incredible scene
where the jailer comes and falls at
Paul's feet and Silas' feet and said:
What must I do to be saved.
And there he's referring to salvation
because he had heard Paul and Silas teaching
about salvation and the coming of Jesus.
And if we put our faith in Him we can be saved.
What must I do to be saved?
And he said--and these are classic
words in the New Testament--
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and you will be saved.
And that's why we can enter into His courts
with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise.
You know throughout history,
all generations have composed music from the Psalms.
From other portions of Scripture to
represent their praise and their
adoration in their particular
point in time, their life.
And one of those, more of a contemporary song,
but it comes right from this psalm:
Enter into His courts with Thanksgiving:
Let's close by listening and reflecting on these words.
[Song]:
I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart.
I will enter His courts with praise.
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad. He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad. He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
I will enter His gates with thanksgiving in my heart.
I will enter His courts with praise.
I will say this is the day that the Lord has made.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad. He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.
He has made me glad. He has made me glad.
I will rejoice for He has made me glad.