Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His steadfast love endures forever.—Psalm 136:1
By Presidential proclamation our nation will gather this coming Thursday to give thanks. There will be much giving of thanks—expressions of gratitude, and rightly so, for we have much to be thankful for.
What, ultimately, are we thankful for, and to whom are we thankful? Our text answers both questions.
Ultimately our thanks is to God for His everlasting loving kindness because this is the source of all our good. We are blessed because God is a bless-ed God. He is perfect goodness. He is infinite love. He is fully favorably disposed towards us and out of that favor He dispenses all the good things that enrich our lives.
“In past generations he allowed all the nations to walk in their own ways. Yet He did not leave himself without witness, for he did good by giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, satisfying your hears with food and gladness.”—Acts 14:17
All our good issues from the loving kindness of God. It rains down upon us out of His perfect goodness, so that our thanks is ultimately given to God.
No doubt there are many people for whom and to whom we are thankful. But, even they are ultimately from the hand of God. They are, actually, a secondary source of the good that we enjoy from their hand. They are the means by which God’s goodness reaches us. The primary source is God Himself.
Now recognizing this in no way minimizes the significance of who these individuals are or what they have done. Their goodness to us for which we are thankful is their real thoughtfulness and care for us. It is the genuine expression of their hearts. Their kindness to us is not a mindless—mechanical action. It is conscious and deliberate.
Be that as it may, their kindness to us is ultimately sourced in God. They are what they are and they do what they do of kindness to us and others, by the favor of God to them. So that, ultimately, all thanksgiving rightly ends with God.
God is the Author of all our good. So as we give thanks on Thursday for all our blessings—it is God in His goodness, His enduring loving kindness to whom our thanks is rightly, ultimately given.
Grateful to God together with you,
Pastor Guy