November 15, 2023 at 2:36 pm | Posted in Biblical Thanksgiving, Uncategorized | 2 Comments
Tags: Biblical gratitude, commentary on Psalms, gratitude, Psalm 100, Sunday School lessons on Psalms, thanksgiving, Thanksgiving devotions
“Thanksgiving” is an interesting word. We normally think of the second half of it, and apply it (correctly) as an obligation. We owe thanks to someone (most notably God!), and so it is right and good that we give it to Him. However, we need to also remember that the reason for the “thanks” is that He has first given something to us. Thanksgiving is the arena of receiving AND giving.
Psalm 100 was probably sung or recited during the ceremony of peace offerings, as described in Leviticus 3 and the second part of Leviticus 7, or perhaps when a worshiper brought a sacrificial animal or grain offering to the gates of the Tabernacle. It highlights for us five ways to give thanks:
1. Give thanks harmoniously.
1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands. 2 Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.
Psalm 100:1-2
Our thanksgiving as Christians ought to be expressed and acknowledged together with other believers in common unity and peace, with one accord. Our individual reasons for gratitude ought to be blended together in harmony, just as our thoughts, attitudes, and actions ought to be in harmony with God’s own will and Word.
2. Give thanks happily.
The joy in our hearts ought to be expressed outwardly as we demonstrate our appreciation to God with praise on our lips and smiles on our faces.
3. Give thanks humbly.
Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Psalm 100:3
It ought to be kind of obvious, but sometimes we overlook the fact that the blessings for which we are giving God thanks are undeserved blessings. We are His people because He made us His people. He is the Shepherd who rescued us and made us His sheep and provides for us and protects us and makes us to dwell in a bountiful pasture. We are thankful to know that He is God and we are not.
4. Give thanks here.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Psalm 100:4
We need to show up for corporate gatherings of thanksgiving. It is one thing to be sedentarily thankful – thankful in our private thoughts, devotions, and meditations – but it is another thing to be actively thankful: arising and going forth to meet with His people in a formal way at a certain time for an intentional occasion.
5. Give thanks hopefully.
For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Psalm 100:5
Be thankful for what God has done in the past. Be thankful about what He is doing in the present. But do not forget to thank Him for what He will do in the future. He is going to keep being faithful to His covenant for generations to come, and forever.
December 20, 2016 at 3:18 pm | Posted in Biblical Thanksgiving, Uncategorized | 3 Comments
Tags: 25th anniversary, anniversary, Biblical marriage, Christian marriage, Jesus Christ, marriage, wedding anniversaries
Tomorrow (Deo volente) my beautiful, intelligent, loving wife and I will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. Well, I’ll be celebrating, anyway. Due to financial constraints it may not be all that much of a celebration for her, but we’ll see. 25 years is one of those “big” anniversary markers, but I’m not really sure why. I suppose it’s because of the association of the number 25 with the idea that 25 is a quarter of a century. This makes sense in a larger historical perspective, but has anyone since the days of Noah and Moses lived long enough to be married for 100 years? Not likely. The truth is, my wife deserves to be honored, cherished, and celebrated for every single year she has had to put up with me, and, realistically, for every single day that made up those years. I could not, in my most focused and vivid analytical planning or my wildest dreams, have come up with a wife so wonderful. Only God could have created her.
I am always thankful when God answers my prayers, but He did not answer my prayers concerning what kind of a wife or marriage I thought I would like to have. No, He has done way better than that. Whether we are talking about her faithfulness, her godliness, her dedication, her kindness, her sense of humor, her beauty, her intelligence, or her skills and talents as a mother, what I asked God for fell way short of what He has done. In a striking paradox, not only is she reassuringly consistent, but she manages to surprise me each and every day.
I praise the Lord for the wonderful gift of my wife, my marriage, and the myriad and untold ways in which He has blessed it by His grace. May we, as spouses, friends, parents, and covenant-partners, draw closer to Him and glorify Him with our marriage, in the name of, and for the sake of, Jesus Christ.
Here are a couple of previous anniversary notes which still apply:
Marriage: The Long and the Short of It
One Crazy, Wonderful Day
May 6, 2011 at 10:27 am | Posted in Biblical firsts, Biblical Thanksgiving, Genesis | 22 Comments
Tags: Christian pilgrims, commentary on Genesis, Genesis 47, Jacob, lessons on Genesis, metaphors for life, Pastor John Wilkerson, pilgrims, Sunday School lessons on Genesis, Warren Wiersbe
It’s fairly easy to pick up on the soteriological symbolism behind the true historical events of God calling His people out of the land of Egypt and into the promised land of Canaan, as they are recorded in the Bible. In the book of Exodus God uses Moses to get his people out of Egypt. Egypt is a picture of the “world.” During the first “Passover,” the people – by the application of blood – are set free from the bondage of the world, and come out of it. This is a picture of salvation through the blood of Jesus Christ. Then, God’s people pass through the Red Sea. This is a picture of baptism, God’s first step of obedience for every believer. Then comes the book of Leviticus, which is full of rules for helping God’s people stay clean in their freedom. In Exodus, God gets His people out of Egypt. In Leviticus, God gets Egypt out of His people.
As we approach the end of a series of posts on Genesis, it is interesting to see how God’s people – the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – end up in Egypt in the first place. The answer lies in the adventures of Jacob’s son, Joseph. His brothers sold him into slavery, and he wound up a ruler in Egypt. Through God’s providence, he was able to relocate his family there in a time of famine, so that they would survive.
There are many metaphors for life: a contest; a war; a game; a race; a battle; a trap; a puzzle. You were probably taught in school that the first Thanksgiving occurred when the Pilgrims met the Indians. But when Joseph brought his father, Jacob, to meet the Pharaoh of Egypt, Jacob explained that he saw life as a pilgrimage.
And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.
Genesis 47:9
Christians truly are pilgrims in this life, for our ultimate home is not in this world. We are just passing through it on our way to our real home in Heaven. Vagabonds have no home. Fugitives are running away from home. Strangers are visiting someone else’s home. Pilgrims are on their way home. Are you living the pilgrim life today?
November 23, 2010 at 1:10 pm | Posted in Biblical Thanksgiving, Romans, Uncategorized | 14 Comments
Tags: darkened heart, Ephesians 5, giving thanks, Romans 1, thankfulness, thanks, thanks to God, thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day devotions, Thanksgiving devotions
The two best times for a Christian to be thankful are day time and night time. Or, to put it another way, every time and all the time. One of the quickest ways to lose sight of God’s glory and to fall prey to a darkened heart is to stop giving thanks to God.
Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Romans 1:21
Just about the only thing easier than figuring out when to give thanks to God, is figuring out for what to give God thanks. God is perfection personified. He always does what is right, and what He does is always good.
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Ephesians 5:20
Give thanks to God at all times for all things.
May 15, 2009 at 9:12 am | Posted in Biblical Thanksgiving, Quotes | 7 Comments
Tags: Biblical swimming, common grace, famous swimmers, fish, God's grace, swim lessons, swimming in the Bible, swimming quotes, thanksgiving, waterworld
We live in a world of grace, swimming in it like fish, by God’s grace, swim in water. Which means in turn that we ought to be swimming in a world of thanksgiving.
R.C. Sproul
The Deep End 
How to Give Thanks
November 15, 2023 at 2:36 pm | Posted in Biblical Thanksgiving, Uncategorized | 2 CommentsTags: Biblical gratitude, commentary on Psalms, gratitude, Psalm 100, Sunday School lessons on Psalms, thanksgiving, Thanksgiving devotions
“Thanksgiving” is an interesting word. We normally think of the second half of it, and apply it (correctly) as an obligation. We owe thanks to someone (most notably God!), and so it is right and good that we give it to Him. However, we need to also remember that the reason for the “thanks” is that He has first given something to us. Thanksgiving is the arena of receiving AND giving.
Psalm 100 was probably sung or recited during the ceremony of peace offerings, as described in Leviticus 3 and the second part of Leviticus 7, or perhaps when a worshiper brought a sacrificial animal or grain offering to the gates of the Tabernacle. It highlights for us five ways to give thanks:
1. Give thanks harmoniously.
Psalm 100:1-2
Our thanksgiving as Christians ought to be expressed and acknowledged together with other believers in common unity and peace, with one accord. Our individual reasons for gratitude ought to be blended together in harmony, just as our thoughts, attitudes, and actions ought to be in harmony with God’s own will and Word.
2. Give thanks happily.
The joy in our hearts ought to be expressed outwardly as we demonstrate our appreciation to God with praise on our lips and smiles on our faces.
3. Give thanks humbly.
Psalm 100:3
It ought to be kind of obvious, but sometimes we overlook the fact that the blessings for which we are giving God thanks are undeserved blessings. We are His people because He made us His people. He is the Shepherd who rescued us and made us His sheep and provides for us and protects us and makes us to dwell in a bountiful pasture. We are thankful to know that He is God and we are not.
4. Give thanks here.
Psalm 100:4
We need to show up for corporate gatherings of thanksgiving. It is one thing to be sedentarily thankful – thankful in our private thoughts, devotions, and meditations – but it is another thing to be actively thankful: arising and going forth to meet with His people in a formal way at a certain time for an intentional occasion.
5. Give thanks hopefully.
Psalm 100:5
Be thankful for what God has done in the past. Be thankful about what He is doing in the present. But do not forget to thank Him for what He will do in the future. He is going to keep being faithful to His covenant for generations to come, and forever.