November 27
“Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever: To Him who alone does great wonders, for His mercy endures forever,” Psalm 136:1-4.
On the civic calendar, today is our National Day of Thanksgiving. This weekend, people in business look upon these few days as an opportunity to make huge profits as they offer all kinds of bargains and encourage people to spend money that they do not have. Buy now and pay later seems to be a business slogan. Really, what does all this selling and buying have to do with Thanksgiving Day?
Furthermore, for Christian people, every day ought to be a Thanksgiving Day! In the Song Book and Prayer Book of the Bible, which is the Book of Psalms, we are frequently reminded to give thanks to the one true God.
Psalm 136, from which we meditate on the first four verses, was intended to be sung in congregational worship. The choir would chant the opening invitation of each verse, and the members of the congregation would sing the response.
We are invited to give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. God is good in many ways more than one. He is good to us as He blesses us with both bodily and spiritual blessings. He is good not only to the Christians, but to the whole creation, including even the people who deny Him and who are evil. All creatures are pictured as standing with outstretched necks, looking heavenward to the Lord for food and daily blessings. The psalmist wrote, “The eyes of all look expectantly to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing,” Psalm 145:15-16. In the sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus said, “He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust,” Matthew 5:45. The sun does not shine and the rain does not fall only on the property of Christians. The sun also shines and the rain also falls on the property of any ungodly neighbors.
Beyond the bodily blessings, God also offers spiritual blessings for all people. And He wants us to keep our priorities straight. Spiritual blessings are much more important than all of the temporal blessings. Jesus also pointed this out in the Sermon on the Mount. He said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you,” Matthew 6:33. The spiritual blessings are the forgiveness of sins, life and salvation, which are offered to us through faith in Jesus as God’s Son and our Savior. Jesus says, “Keep first things first,” and He promises to take care of the rest.
Then Jesus added the words, “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble,” Matthew 6:34. Every day has enough troubles of its own. Don’t add to them by worrying.
God’s mercy endures forever. His mercy revealed through Christ Jesus offers us the blessing of eternal life in heaven. This has been gained for us through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus.
The triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – is the only true God. He is the God of gods and Lord of lords, “Who alone does great wonders.” His great wonders are seen in His creation of all things and in His plan of salvation for all people. “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”
We praise Thee, O God, our Redeemer, Creator,
In grateful devotion our tribute we bring;
We lay it before Thee, we kneel and adore Thee,
We bless Thy holy name, glad praises we sing. Amen.