PSALM 105:1-7

1. A HEART FILLED WITH THANKSGIVING REMEMBERS ALL GOD'S BLESSINGS:
1. "Oh give thanks to the Lord, .... Make known His deeds among the peoples. .... Speak of all His wonders. .... Remember His wonders which He has done, His marvels, and the judgments uttered by His mouth."
2. I love the Psalm which adds this thought: "Bless the Lord, O my soul, And forget none of His benefits; Who pardons all your iniquities; Who heals all your diseases; Who redeems your life from the pit; Who crowns you with lovingkindness and compassion; Who satisfies your years with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle." Psalms 103:2-5 (NASB).
3. Let me suggest to you that
1. We ought to be thankful for past blessings:
1. If we are thoroughly honest, all of us can point to some way in which God has blessed us in the past
2. Charles Spurgeon said in a sermon: "Why blessed be His name, if He never granted me another favor, I have enough for which to thank Him as long as I have any being. And this, moreover, is to be recollected, that whatever great things we are about to ask, we cannot possibly be seeking for blessings one-half so great as those which we have already received if we are indeed His children. If you are a Christian, you have life in Christ. Are you about to ask for meat and raiment? The life is more than these."
2. We ought to be thankful for present mercies:
1. Mercies abound but we may miss them because we take them for granted assuming we deserve at least what we have!
2. We may miss them because they are so subtle as to go unnoticed as blessings: things like air, sunshine, rain!
3. We may miss them because we have not looked for them not expecting God to bless us anyhow!
3. Let me suggest, finally, that we ought to be thankful for promised provisions:
1. He has promised to meet our needs: "my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19.
2. He has promised to limit our temptations and to provide an escape: "No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, Who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it." 1 Corinthians 10:13.
3. He has promised to bear our burdens and to comfort us:"Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time, casting all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you. .... And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, Who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen and establish you." 1 Peter 5:6-10 .
4. He has promised a home in heaven with Him:"If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also." John 14:3.
4. The late Alex Haley, who wrote Roots, had a unique picture on his office wall of a turtle sitting on top of a fence post. Whenever someone asked about it, Haley would say, "If you see a turtle on a fence post, you know that he had some help. Any time I start thinking, 'Wow, isn't this marvelous what I've done?' I look at that picture and remember how this turtle, me, got up on that post." When you feel pretty self-satisfied about the good stuff in your life, as though you are responsible for it, look at the fencepost you are on and remember God put you there. Paul wrote, "For who makes you different from anyone else? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?" 1 Corinthians 4:7 (NIV).

2. A HEART FILLED WITH THANKSGIVINGS GIVES GOD THE PRAISE:
1. "Give thanks to the Lord, .... Make known His deeds among the peoples. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; Speak of all His wonders. Glory in His holy name."
2. Paul wrote, "Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name." Hebrews 13:15 (NASB). And David said, "I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth." Psalms 34:1 (NASB). What is the benefit of praising God? Besides that He deserves it, consider this:
1. It honors Him as God!
2. It recognizes that He has given what we need when we need it!
3. It declares our humble dependency upon His provision!
4. Gratitude causes us to have the proper focus on life:
1. It makes us look at our benefits more than our owies and ouchies and other afflictions!
2. It makes us look at what we have and not at what the other guy has to envy or covet it!
3. A heart filled with thanksgiving is
1. A heart that is contented and satisfied.
2. A heart that is confident and trusting.
3. A heart that is optimistic and hopeful.
4. A heart that is humble and dependent.
5. A heart that knows from where its blessings come.
4. Everyone gathered at the table for Thanksgiving Dinner were expressing their praise. When they came to the 5-year-old in the family, he began by expressing his thanks to the turkey for dying so they could have him for dinner. After that he thanked his father for buying the turkey and thanked his mother for cooking the turkey and thanked his grandpa for carving the turkey, and thanked the farmer who made the turkey nice and fat. And then at the end he solemnly said, "Did I leave anybody out?" His 7 year-old brother, said, "God." Without being flustered at all, the 5-year-old said, "I was just about to get to Him." Sadly, too many never get around to getting to God.

3. A HEART FILLED WITH THANKSGIVING REJOICES IN GOD:
1. "Let the heart of those who seek the Lord be glad."
1. Paul puts it this way, "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice!" Philippians 4:4 (NASB).
2. King David wrote, "Let all who take refuge in You rejoice; let them sing joyful praises forever. Protect them, so all who love Your name may be filled with joy." Psalms 5:11 (NLT).
3. Jesus said, "When you obey Me, you remain in My love, just as I obey My Father and remain in His love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with My joy. Yes, your joy will overflow!" John 15:10-11 (NLT).
2. You know how it works. If you love someone, and cherish them, and are grateful to them, the very thought of them, just the sight of them, merely the presence of them fills you with joy. I can't tell you how happy and joyous it makes me to see my children and grandchildren. It's button-bustin', heart-fillin' joy.
3. There is every reason to joy in the Lord, too. Isaiah said, "With joy you will drink deeply from the fountain of salvation! In that wonderful day you will sing: 'Thank the Lord! Praise His name!" Isaiah 12:3-4 (NLT).
4. We will either gripe and grumble or rejoice and appreciate our way through life. Thanksgiving makes the difference. To illustrate, in 1636, one of the worst times in the history of mankind in terms of the sheer number of deaths through war and epidemics, there was a godly pastor whose name was Martin Rinkert. In a single year, this pastor buried 5,000 people in his community - about fifteen a day. He lived with the worst that life could do. But in the middle of that time, he wrote a table grace for his children, our thanksgiving hymn: "Now thank we all our God, With hearts and hands and voices, Who wondrous things has done, In whom his world rejoices." He knew by experience how to be thankful, and to rejoice in God and become an example for all of us.

Shakespeare said, "How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child." Let none of God's children be thankless. The blind poet, Milton, said that a person with an ungrateful spirit only has one vice, because all of the rest of his vices are virtues compared to ingratitude. In contrast Paul wrote, "in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NASB). God said, "He who offers a sacrifice of thanksgiving honors Me." Psalms 50:23 (NASB). The best way to thank God and to properly honor Him, is to give Him willing surrender of all you have, and are, and can do. That's the call today. Give Him thanks and honor by giving Him you, in total, unconditional, willing surrender.

Return To Old Testament Sermons

Return To Home Page