Why We Should Continually Give Thanks to God

Good morning. I am one of the elders here, and I was asked to lead us in a brief devotional for this Thanksgiving season.

I especially want to welcome those of you joining online. I do not know if you all realize it, but we have a regular group of people who join us that way each week, and today is a good day to invite them into what we are doing together.

Praying Over the Shoeboxes

Before we begin, we did something worth mentioning. Because today is largely about children, we wanted to pray for the kids who will receive the gift boxes our church packed — and I did not want to do that alone.

So we invited all of our children’s ministry kids to come forward, lay their hands on the boxes, and pray together. One of our children prayed aloud, asking God to bless the kids who receive them.

And we prayed something like this: Heavenly Father, just as Jesus is the greatest gift in the world, may these boxes be a simple gift that opens hearts and minds to you. Help the churches distributing them to give them as a genuine blessing, so these children know how deeply they are loved. And ultimately, may these children want to join the discipleship program, want to hear about Jesus, and may some of them put their faith in you and become remarkable leaders and servants who help their communities know you and follow you.

The Text: Psalm 107

I want to begin by reading a psalm. If you have your Bible, turn to Psalm 107.

A little background: this psalm carries the feel of the Babylonian exile — of a people coming out of captivity. Many of the illustrations we are about to read relate to God delivering people from bondage.

You would think that if anyone had reason to be thankful, it would be these people.

And so today we are going to be reminded, just as they were, why we should be continually giving thanks to God.

The psalm opens this way:

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.”

What follows is a series of scenes, each with the same shape.

Some wandered in desert wastes, hungry and thirsty, with no city to live in and their souls fainting within them. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could dwell.

Some sat in darkness and in the shadow of death, prisoners in affliction and in irons — because they had rebelled against the words of God and spurned the counsel of the Most High. So their hearts were bowed down with hard labor, and they fell with none to help. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He brought them out of darkness and burst their bonds apart.

Some were fools through their sinful ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities. They loathed any kind of food and drew near to the gates of death. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He sent out his word and healed them.

Some went down to the sea in ships, doing business on the great waters, and saw the deeds of the Lord in the deep. He commanded and raised the stormy wind, which lifted up the waves. They mounted up to heaven and went down to the depths; their courage melted away, and they reeled and staggered like drunken men and were at their wits’ end. Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He made the storm be still, the waves were hushed, and he brought them to their desired haven.

And after each of these, the same refrain returns: Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love, for his wondrous works to the children of man.

The psalm closes by describing how God turns rivers into desert and desert into pools of water, how he raises up the needy out of affliction, and then leaves us with this: “Whoever is wise, let him attend to these things; let them consider the steadfast love of the Lord.”

So for the next few minutes, that is exactly what we are going to do. We are going to consider the steadfast love of the Lord.

Six Reasons to Give Thanks

I want to share six reasons this text gives us for thanking God. We give thanks because of his goodness, his guidance, because he delivers, because of his ability to heal, for his power, and for his blessings.

1. Give thanks for his goodness

This is the most important one, and it comes right at the top in verses 1 through 3.

Now, these were people who had every reason to give thanks because of what God had done for them. But notice what the text actually says. We are to give thanks to him solely because of his goodness. And he is good all the time.

I have to admit that one of the habits I picked up during the pandemic is drinking coffee. Nearly every morning my wife makes me a latte, and I drink it. And around 11:30 the caffeine wears off, and I wonder where it went.

And it is a recurring cycle. Where is the caffeine? It wears off. Where is the caffeine? It wears off again.

God is the caffeine that never wears off.

His goodness endures forever. These verses tell us his mercy endures forever, and that he redeemed captives from every direction — east and west, north and south.

And even though the people in the Old Testament were prone to forget that they had been rescued — prone to forget they had this everlasting supply — God’s goodness remained constant.

For that alone, we should give him thanks.

2. Give thanks for his guidance

Verses 4 through 9 tell us to thank God for the way he guides us.

These verses describe people wandering, and then God bringing them out of captivity. And if we are honest, all of us have been wandering at some point this past year.

Whether you liked masks or hated them. Whether you liked quarantine or could not stand it. Whether you welcomed all the constant change in our lives or resented it — we have all done some wandering.

Verses 6 through 9 describe people wandering and crying out to God. And what those verses remind us is that he answers. He delivered them out of captivity. He will deliver us, and he will guide us, no matter what the problems in our lives are.

So we can give thanks to God today and always, because he listens to us and genuinely desires to guide us along the way.

Verse 9 carries the message repeated throughout this chapter — the whole psalm is essentially pleading with us to give thanks to God for his goodness and his wonderful works, because he guides us.

3. Give thanks because he delivers

Verses 10 through 16 describe people in darkness and near death.

But look closely at the text. These people were in darkness and near death because of their own sin — because of their rebellion.

And God still delivered them when they called on his name.

I think many of us can relate. We have rebelled — whether this year or in a previous season of life. Perhaps something we did consciously, perhaps something we would only admit if we were being fully honest with ourselves. We have rebelled against God and denied him in our lives.

And the good news is that we can give thanks, because he has delivered me — and he can deliver you from sin, if you choose to accept him.

And why can he do that? Verse 15 tells us again: because of his goodness.

4. Give thanks for his ability to heal

Verses 17 through 22 tell us to give thanks for God’s ability to heal.

Healing is something most of us can relate to. We have all been sick. There was sickness in my own family this past week, and now most of us are better and doing well.

What is difficult about this one is that God chooses when to heal us, in his divine providence.

Many in our church family were deeply moved this year by the story of one of our elders who went through surgery and lost a great deal of blood — and God miraculously chose to heal him in the middle of what looked like an extremely dangerous situation.

And I fully expect that when we open the microphone in a few minutes, someone is going to share a way God healed them or a family member this past year.

So we can give thanks for the way he heals us.

And yet these verses — and the Bible in its entirety — remind us that whether God chooses to heal us or not, we can still give thanks. Because God is good.

5. Give thanks for his power

Verses 23 through 32 tell us we can thank God for his power.

These verses are full of vivid images — storms raised and then stilled, waves hushed, sailors carried to their desired haven.

I love what verse 27 says: that they were at their wits’ end.

Some of us in this room are parents, and I frequently find myself at my wits’ end with my own children. And some of you who are kids in this room may be at your wits’ end too — because of schoolwork, or frankly because of your parents.

And what does this text say about being at our wits’ end?

That God wants us to cry out to him — and that he will bring us out of that distress.

One of the verses we have posted in our house is Ephesians 3:20, which describes God as the one who is able to do far more abundantly than all we could ask or think.

That is what it means to call on God’s power. And so we can thank him today for his great and wonderful power.

6. Give thanks for his blessings

Finally, we can give thanks for God’s blessings in our lives.

The closing verses of this psalm are filled with blessing — God turning parched land into springs, letting the hungry settle, establishing cities, sowing fields and planting vineyards that yield fruitfully, and multiplying his people by his blessing.

And for a people coming out of captivity, there was an enormous amount to look back on and say: God has blessed us.

For my own family, some of you know part of our story. We have four healthy children. And there was a time when we did not know whether we would have any children at all.

So when we look back and see four healthy kids, that is not merely something to be thankful for today. It is something to be thankful for always.

I think if all of us looked back honestly, we would see how abundantly God has blessed us.

To Review

We should give thanks because of:

• God’s goodness
• God’s guidance
• The way he delivers
• His ability to heal
• His power
• His blessings

One Last Verse

I want to end by focusing on verse 32: “Let them extol him in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders.”

That is exactly what we are going to do right now.

In a moment we are going to sing, and during that time we are inviting people to come to the microphone and share what they have been thankful for. And for those joining online, we invite you to share as well.

We are being invited to extol God — to speak about him in the congregation of the people, right here, publicly giving thanks.

First Corinthians 1:31 says: let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.

That is what we are going to do. As we give thanks, we are going to boast in God’s goodness. We are going to boast in the Lord.

And that is not really boasting at all — because it is not about anything we have done. It is entirely about what he has done in our lives.