Giving Thanks

Give thanks with a grateful heart…

What a beautiful song! Thanksgiving is an important part of the Christian life. It is the capstone to a life of prayer. The apostle Paul instructed the church in Philippi regarding prayer:

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. (Philippians 4:6, NASB)

Our requests and intercession are to include thanksgiving as a sign of our faith. We thank the Lord in advance that He hears our prayers, and that He is about a good work, bringing His will to pass in our lives. The Scriptures are filled with prayers of thanksgiving:

I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. (Ps. 9:1, ESV)

With them were Heman and Jeduthun and the rest of those chosen and expressly named to give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever. (1 Chron. 16:41, ESV)

To you, O God of my fathers, I give thanks and praise, for you have given me wisdom and might, and have now made known to me what we asked of you… (Dan. 2:23, ESV)

…addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father… (Eph. 5:19b-20a, ESV)

Thanksgiving is also a way that we show humility before the Lord our God. One day Jesus entered a village and encountered a group of ten lepers. Luke writes:

And as he entered a village, he was met by ten lepers, who stood at a distance and lifted up their voices, saying, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us."  When he saw them he said to them, "Go and show yourselves to the priests." And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus' feet, giving him thanks. (Luke 17:12-16, ESV)

Jesus made note of his humility in thanksgiving, but also of the lack of thanks on the part of the others:

Then Jesus answered, "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?" And he said to him, "Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well." (Luke 17:17-19, ESV)

May we be like this one leper who was healed and then came back to give thanks. Let us do so with a heart of thanksgiving for all that God has done – and all that He is going to do.

Copyright © Craig von Buseck, used with permission.