I Thank You
Psalm 107:1-9, 33-38, 43
Growing up, “giving thanks” was normally associated with a meal blessing. I appreciated food, but it never dawned on me how thankful I should be. Young children don’t usually pay attention to newscasts about famines and starving people. I was no different. Mom cooked, and it was more than enough.
Nor do I recall thanks making it into my prayers very often. Prayers I associated with asking. Like any young boy, I had a list of wants and confused them with needs: new bicycle, money, records, shotgun for hunting, fishing poles, etc. It was years later before I understood “thank you’s” should outweigh “I want’s.”
Supplication is an essential part of worship, but so is thanksgiving. The early Pilgrims of America expressed thanks to Squanto for showing them how to fish, plant and cultivate by inviting their Indian neighbors to a feast the following November. The psalmist found reason to thank God by reflecting on how He protected His people through their wilderness travels following exile in Egypt and Babylon.
The psalmist invites worshippers to thank God because He is good (v. 1). God’s goodness isn’t determined by the nature of circumstances. What we label “bad” is not necessarily viewed as such by God. Many restrictions placed on me by my parents I labeled as bad, but they didn’t. They knew the desired result. I wasn’t privy. What I considered awful was really for my good.
As a heavenly parent, God functions identically. He doesn’t initiate or allow anything into our lives that isn’t good or can’t be used for our good and His glory.
The psalmist refers to four types of people who have reason to thank God: desert wanderers (vv. 4-9), prisoners (vv. 10-16), the sick (vv. 17-22), and sailors in a storm (vv. 23-32). Whether referring to the exodus following Egyptian slavery or deliverance from Babylonian exile, there is reason to thank God for deliverance and provision.
Our reasons for thanking God are innumerable. Among them is His goodness, His enduring love and His redemptive power. Only a personal relationship with Jesus Christ completely satisfies our thirst and alleviates spiritual hunger pains (v. 9). The greatest exodus is deliverance from sin’s slavery and is accomplished by accepting Christ’s gift at Calvary.
Responses to life events lead to bitterness or thankfulness. Though God disciplines disobedience (vv. 33-34), He restores the repentant and rewards obedience (v. 35). God’s power can transform bad times into blessings and set us on pathways of fruitfulness. Even His discipline is an expression of His goodness and reason to thank Him.
Wiles– Lessons in the BSL series for the spring quarter are being written by Martin Wiles, pastor of First Baptist Church, Harleyville.