While giving thanks for the LORD’s provisions and their preservation is the only proper response from Israel, to do so is also beneficial for His people in any day or dispensation. “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to Your name, O Most High” (Ps. 92:1). This psalm was written as “A Song for the Sabbath,” that week by week they could reflect on God’s goodness and praise His name. In this respect it is noteworthy that the Hebrew word for “give thanks” is sometimes translated “praise.” For example, “I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify Thy name for evermore” (86:12 KJV). Therefore, thanksgiving is an important part of praising God.

Many Reasons To Give Thanks To The LORD
The Psalms present many reasons, in addition to the two stated in Psalm 106:1, why Israel could give thanks and praise to the LORD with their whole heart (111:1). Consider these points:

• He was their personal God (30:12, 42:11, 43:4-5, 71:22, 86:12, 118:28)
• They belonged to Him (79:13)
• He was their salvation (118:21)
• He was their hope, help and health, and exceeding joy (42:5,11, 43:4)
• He was their strength and shield (28:7).
• Of His holiness, or His holy name (30:4, 97:12, 99:3)
• Of His righteousness (7:17, 119:7,62)
• Of all His wonderful deeds (9:1, 75:1)
• Of His works, especially toward the children of men (107:8,15,21,31)
• Dead people cannot praise Him (6:5, 30:9, 88:10)

Giving Thanks To The Father
Christians also thank God for the above reasons. They, too, appreciate His nature, character and attributes. But their relationship with Him contrasts with Israel’s covenant and earthly relationship with Jehovah. That is because Christians enter into an intimate relationship with God when they believe in His Son for salvation. He becomes their heavenly Father (see Jn. 20:17).

The Lord Jesus said a sinner’s conversion causes rejoicing in heaven (Lk. 15:7,10,32). These conversions also cause believers to give thanks to God. Paul and Timothy thanked Him when they heard the Colossians had been saved and Epaphras had established a church in Colosse. “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus” (Col. 1:3-4 ESV). Verses 9-13 detail the things that they prayed for regarding this church, which they had not visited. The prayer climaxes in verses 12-14: “Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Such thanksgiving is proper Christian praise and worship!

I want to point your attention to a few things. Notice:

• Believers can give thanks to “the Father,” who is the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” and who, “according to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (Eph. 1:3; 1 Pet. 1:3-4). The Father desires this true worship from us – worship of Him in both spirit and truth (see Jn. 4:23-24).
• The Father has made us suitable to partake in a heavenly inheritance. By His grace He has predestined us for the blessing of being with and like His Son. That is His predetermined will, and He is working everything to accomplish it (see Eph. 1:5-6,10-11; Rom. 8:28-30).
• He has rescued us from Satan’s authority and placed us under that of His Son – His only Son, whom He loves and whose rule over us is permeated by divine love (Heb. 2:14-15; 1 Pet. 2:9-10).
• He has redeemed us and forgiven our sins through His Beloved, in whom we have redemption through His blood (Rom. 3:24; Eph. 1:6-7).

Practical Aspect Of Giving Thanks
Following Colossians 1:12-14, Paul detailed many other blessings we have in Christ. Colossians 2:9-10 summarize them: “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and ye are complete in Him, who is the Head of all principality and authority” (JND). Out of the many practical exhortations Paul gave in the latter part of this letter (2:16–4:18), two others concern the giving of thanks: “Be thankful … And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” (3:15,17 ESV).

The Correct Attitude: Be Thankful
Christians live in the difficult last days of this present age. In 2 Timothy 3:1-2 Paul warned Timothy that such times would be marked by an attitude of ingratitude by sinful mankind. The general selfishness of men especially manifests itself in their grumbles and complaints when adversity invades their lifestyle. It is in these situations that believers can show an entirely different spirit, the spirit of thankfulness to God for all His benefits and provisions. We must remember that He is “kind to the ungrateful and the evil” (Lk. 6:35). It is so easy to spoil our testimony by adopting the cynical thinking of the world!

A Positive Christian Lifestyle
In Colossians 3:17 Paul encouraged believers to live lives in which everything they say or do is governed by the lordship of Christ. Doing so enables believers to thank God the Father through the Lord Jesus for the opportunity of demonstrating the life-changing power of the gospel each day of their lives. There is no circumstance in a believer’s life when a grateful attitude is inappropriate. We are exhorted to:

• “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Th. 5:18). We should do this whether these circumstances are beneficial or adverse for us, and whether or not we understand God’s plan for us to pass through them.
• Give “thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Eph. 5:20). Again, “everything” means the difficulties of life as well as the good things, for both are allowed by God for our ultimate good (see Rom. 8:28).

Give Thanks For Who You Are
For those who trust in God, there is no such thing as identity crisis – the questioning of a person as to who they are or their purpose in life. Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well.” Recently, I read a paraphrase of the verse, which said, “I thank You that You have made me to be who I am!” Put together with verses 1 and 13-18,³ I can say that God foreknew me and made me to be the person I am for His own pleasure and will. Paul recognized this when he wrote to Timothy, saying he was grateful that God had appointed him to his apostleship because He knew Paul would be faithful. And, He gave him the strength to fulfill his responsibilities (see 1 Tim. 1:11-15, especially v.12).

Give Thanks For What You Have
Each one of the Gospels records that the Lord gave thanks for the provision of five loaves and two fishes for the feeding of the 5,000. “Jesus then took the loaves, and when He had given thanks, He distributed them to those who were seated. So also the fish, as much as they wanted” (Jn. 6:11). The other gospels state He blessed, or spoke well of, the food, meaning He gave thanks for what seemed to the disciples to be an insufficient provision.

Paul taught believers should always give thanks for food and acknowledge the Creator’s providential care (see 1 Tim. 4:3-6). In this respect I am always conscious that giving thanks for food shows I am also grateful for all God’s other provisions for life – a wife and family, a home, clothing, a job, health and strength, daily grace and other things too. Still, we must heed Paul’s admonition: “But if we [only] have food and clothing, with these we will be content” (6:6-8).

Give Thanks For Others
Paul always gave thanks for the work of God evident in other believers⁴ and that God had enriched them with all things (2 Cor. 9:11-12).

Giving Thanks In Church
Paul instructed Timothy that it is our responsibility in church prayer meetings to give thanks on behalf of all classes of unbelievers with the objective that they might be saved (see 1 Tim. 2, especially v.1).

In 1 Corinthians 14:16-17,⁵ he expanded the practice of thanksgiving to include other church meetings.

The Lord’s Supper must include that essential activity of giving thanks for the bread and the wine. “The Lord Jesus … took bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it, and said, ‘This is My body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of Me.’ In the same way [meaning, after he had given thanks] also He took the cup, after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me’” (1 Cor. 11:23-25).

Challenges
We live in a world which has turned away from God. He is not honored by its people, and they are never thankful for all His providential care of them (see Rom. 1:21). We should be different. Let us remember always to give Him thanks:

• For who He is.
• For what He has done and is doing.
• That Christ is the Victor (1 Cor. 15:57).
• For saving us.
• For every blessing we receive from Him.
• For answered prayer.
• For Christian liberty (Rom. 14:6).
• Both in and for all things.
• In everything we do or say.

ENDNOTES
1. Also translated as “mercy” or “loving-kindness.”
2. 1 Chr. 16:4-36; 2 Chr. 5:13, 7:3,6; 20:21; Ezra 3:11; Ps. 100:5, 107:1, 118:1-4,29, 136:1-26; Jer. 33:11.
3. “O LORD, You have searched me and known me! … For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in Your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them. How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! If I would count them, they are more than the sand. I awake, and I am still with You” (Ps. 139:1,13-18).
4. See Rom. 1:8, 6:17, 16:4; 1 Cor. 1:4; 2 Cor. 8:16; Eph. 1:16; Phil. 1:3; Col. 1:3; 1 Th. 1:2, 2:13; 2 Th. 1:3, 2:13; 2 Tim. 1:3-5; Phile. 1:4.
5. Also Phil. 4:6.

By David Anderson