Thanksgiving to God
David knew how to give thanks to God for all that he had done for them. In Psalms, David gives thanks to God many of times; one of the best examples is in Psalm 9:1-2. Which reads “I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart; I will tell of all Your wonders. I will be glad and exalt in You: I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.” Psalm 9 is a whole chapter that gives Thanksgiving for God’s justice. David is thanking God for all that He has done, and in return David is going to exalt and is going to sing praises to God. This is not the only chapter in Psalm that is devoted to giving Thanksgiving to God.
Psalm 95:1-7 reads:
O come, let us sing for joy to the Lord, let us shout joyfully to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving, let us shout joyfully to Him with psalms. For the Lord is a great God and a great Kings above all gods, in whose hand are the depths of the earth, the peaks of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for it was He who made it, and His hands formed the dry land. Come, let us worship and bow down, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture and the sheep of His hand.
It is not known who wrote Psalm 95, but what we do know is that they wanted to sing and shout their joy to God. They are praising God for all that He has created. They do make a good point that we are God’s sheep and that we should praise and worship Him. Otherwise we should give God our thanksgiving because without Him we would not be here.
Giving thanksgiving to God did not only appear in the Old Testament but it also appeared in the New Testament. Paul wrote to the Philippians about thanksgiving. Chapter one is called Thanksgiving, but in chapter 4, verses 4 through 7 talks about praying to God and giving Him thanksgiving for our requests. Philippians 4:4-7 reads “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice! Let your gentle spirit be known to all men. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests by made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Paul is saying to give God thanksgiving for your request, which is the same as giving God thanks for fulfilling your request before He has fulfilled it.
Revelation tells about the angels giving thanksgiving to God. Revelation 7:11-12 reads, “And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying ‘Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.’” In this vision, John is seeing the angels gathering around God and praising Him, giving Him thanks for His blessing, glory, wisdom, honor, power, might, and thanksgiving.
What do you need to thank God for today? The life that you have, the issues you have faced to help you grow in Him, or for letting the world see Him through you.