Three Reasons for Giving Thanks
Every November as the Thanksgiving holiday gets closer and closer, we see more and more reminders about giving thanks. It’s in the very name of the holiday! Thanksgiving is a time for giving thanks.
Even those without faith in Christ are drawn into an attitude of thankfulness. But we may wonder: to whom exactly are they expressing thanks? While we can express thanks to various individuals for the roles they play in our lives, ultimately, our thanks should go to God, the source of blessing and all good things.
Thankfulness to God grows and deepens as we get to know God and see how He works. Psalm 107 helps us see that. In this study, we’ll see how graciously He has worked on our behalf to rescue, restore, and provide for us. And when we see that, our thanks moves from just a generic attitude of thanks to an expression that is genuine and heartfelt.
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Three Reasons for Giving Thanks
Question 1:
What past event in your life are you now thankful for?
THE POINT
Give thanks for the ways God is at work in your life.
THE BIBLE MEETS LIFE
Whether it’s burned cookies or spilled coffee, no one likes a food mishap. Yet, one of our in-home conveniences resulted from a food accident.
Percy Spencer, born in Maine in 1894, went to live with his aunt when he was orphaned. To help financially, he quit school in the fifth grade and took his first job. The field of electricity fascinated him, so when the local paper mill converted to electricity, Percy, then sixteen, convinced the owners he could help. By studying “how to” books at night and installing wires during the day, he became a master electrician.
A company developing electrical products hired Percy in 1925. Later, while working on a microwave tube to improve submarine radar systems, Percy noticed that a chocolate bar melted in his shirt pocket. From this fluke, he went on to develop what would become the microwave oven.1
Sometimes good comes out of bad circumstances. Today we will study a psalm that described a time when God’s people experienced a crisis. How did God respond? How did the people respond? Would they grumble, or would they be grateful?
WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY?
Psalm 107:1-3
1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever. 2 Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story—those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, 3 those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
Because they speak so deeply to our hearts on a personal level, we sometimes overlook the fact the Psalms were the songbook of ancient Israel. We can forget that centuries ago a music leader either sang these words himself, led a choir to sing them, or stood before an entire congregation and led the people to lift their voices in worship to God—using these very words.
Psalm 107 begins with a call to express gratitude to God: “Give thanks to the Lord.” In Hebrew, the verb translated give is plural and an imperative. Thus, this opening phrase was a collective call for all of God’s people to give the Lord thanks as they worshiped Him.
The words of Psalm 107 give evidence of a joyful heart; they ring with the authenticity of a testimony that comes from someone who has lived through what the psalm describes. Like concentric circles moving outward like ripples of water, the psalm’s opening phrases expand to reveal the reasons we are to be thankful. The central circle speaks to the very core of God’s character and being: “for he is good.” This reflects one of God’s divine attributes: His goodness.
Question 2:
How has God shown you that He is good?
Many of us affirmed His goodness in the blessing we said as children: “God is great; God is good. Let us thank Him for our food.” The fact that God is consistently good would have been a unique thought among ancient Near Eastern religions. The false gods that their adherents worshiped were fickle. These so-called gods were often cruel and vindictive. The fact that the Israelites’ God is good set Him apart from the false deities, gods, and idols that other peoples worshiped.
This brings us to our second circle. Out of His goodness flows “his love.” Other translations render love as “mercy,” “grace,” “steadfast love” or “loving kindness.” No one English word encompasses all the aspects of the Hebrew term. Like goodness, love is an inherent trait of God’s character. God’s anger may last but a moment, but His love endures forever.
The psalm then comes to the outer of the three concentric circles—how God has expressed His goodness and His love: He has “redeemed” His children. To redeem is to purchase, to buy back, reclaim, or deliver from danger. The image always involves people who are in a situation from which they cannot free themselves. More than once, God redeemed His people from an enemy. And what foes they were! The Israelites had been held captive by the most powerful people of the day—the Egyptians and later the Babylonians. Yet, regardless of the strength of the nation that held God’s people, God proved Himself able to deliver them.
Psalm 107:4-7
4 Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. 5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. 6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. 7 He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
Whereas verse 3 indicates God had begun to gather His people from faraway lands, verse 4 introduces some of the hardships they experienced along the way. As we read this passage, we can easily imagine the children of Israel after they left Egypt. The desert wilderness between Egypt and Israel could be harsh. Because of their disobedience, the people wandered for four decades in this wilderness. The people may have felt hopelessly lost, “finding no way to a city where they could settle” (v. 4) since they were far from civilization and from any amenities.
However, these verses more likely are referring to God’s people centuries later as they traveled from Babylonian captivity back to their homeland, Israel. Coming from ancient Mesopotamia, travelers would follow the routes that arched westward, along the northern fringes of the Fertile Crescent before turning south to enter Israel.
Verse 5 described a situation that would have been familiar to peoples of the ancient Near East: the travelers had run out of both food and drink. Here is a strong sign that the psalm was referring to the Jews as they returned to their homeland from Babylonian captivity, rather than to those who fled Egypt.
To be traveling across the desert and run out of food and drink was not merely an inconvenience; it was a life-or-death emergency. Because of their desperate situation, “their lives ebbed away” (v. 5). This does not mean they were merely discouraged or sad.
Recognizing their dire straits, the people “cried out to the Lord” (v. 6). The Hebrew term translated cried out was originally used to describe the sound of thunder. Thus, their crying out to God was not some fancy prayer like one might compose ahead of time to recite at a public gathering. No, this was a cry that started deep within a person’s being and erupted forth in a desperate roar: “God! We need You!”
When the people could do nothing else, they could still pray. Although they were powerless, God was still able. Rather than allowing them to face death in the barren desert, God led them to an inhabited city where they could live—where they could establish homes.
The psalmist set up a parallel of opposites in verses 4 and 7. Comparing these verses, we see that God responded to the people’s desperate situation by meeting them at the exact point of their need—He led them to the needed resources.
Question 3:
How has God led you through adversity?
Psalm 107:8-9
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, 9 for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
Verse 1 had called the people to lift their voices in thanksgiving because God is good. These verses remind us to be grateful for what God has done: the psalmist recalled that He had done “wonderful deeds for mankind” and had met His people’s needs.
Earlier in this psalm, we saw God had satisfied the directionless wanderers by providing a path and a city. Verse 5 introduced people who were hungry and thirsty. Because God had provided, they were now filled. The people responded by giving thanks. When we are hungry, lost, afraid, in danger, or hurting, we typically focus on ourselves and the need of the moment. When we cry out to God in our despair and He answers that need, we can then look back with a grateful heart.
Question 4:
What are some results that come from a life of gratitude?
A reassuring principle is at work in these verses: God works at the point of our human need. Or stated another way, our needs are the places where God moves on our behalf. Certainly the Israelites didn’t see their predicament in a positive light while they were going through the crisis. Looking back, though, they could have thankful hearts because they saw God had blessed them.
All of us go through crises. In the difficulty of the moment, though, sometimes we don’t see how God is at work. Often, we recognize His hand only when we look in the rearview mirror. That is what the children of Israel were doing in Psalm 107.
Good can come from a crisis. After God responds, we then may be able to see a bigger picture. We realize that, even as God was working on our behalf, He was doing the same for others. Our gratitude grows, as we see all the ways He works.
If we can pause in a crisis and take a bird’s eye view, we are likely to see that God is “behind the scenes” working all things together for good (Rom. 8:28). We can respond with gratitude rather than grumbling. Our gratitude is because in those moments God reveals His goodness, faithful love, and ability to move mightily on our behalf.
Question 5:
How can our group create a better environment of gratitude?
GOOD THINGS
What are some “good things” you are hungry and thirsty for at this season of your life?
Use the space below to create a list.
Then write a prayer, thanking God for those good things.
Good Things:
1.
2.
3.
My Prayer:
“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”
ROMANS 8:28
LIVE IT OUT
Psalm 107 reminds us that God can bring good out of bad situations. Choose one of the following applications:
- Recall. Can you think of crises in your life in which God was working all things for good, even if you did not realize it at those moments? Pray and thank God for His good work in your life.
- Write. Did God use someone to help you through one of those moments? This week, drop them a note; let them know how thankful you are for what they did.
- Respond. God often uses people as a conduit of His goodness. Do you know people who are sick, grieving, hungry, or hurting? Reach out and offer tangible support or assistance this week to at least one person who is going through a crisis. Both of you will be thankful you did.
Percy Spencer had no idea of the good that would come from his melted chocolate bar. Yet all of us have benefited from his mishap. Even so, God uses many things we might overlook or misidentify to bring blessings to our lives.
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