Wednesday, May 1, 2013

A Month of Thankfulness” Devotional Series (Day 1)


“Therefore, Our God, We Thank Thee

SIH’s Think On These Things: 1 Chron 29:10-14”

 

 

1Chr 29:10-14 (KJV)  Wherefore David blessed the LORD before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed [be] thou, LORD God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.  Thine, O LORD, [is] the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all [that is] in the heaven and in the earth [is thine]; thine [is] the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.  Both riches and honour [come] of thee, and thou reignest over all; and in thine hand [is] power and might; and in thine hand [it is] to make great, and to give strength unto all.  Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.  But who [am] I, and what [is] my people, that we should be able to offer so willingly after this sort? for all things [come] of thee, and of thine own have we given thee.

 

To begin our “Month of Thankfulness” series I would like us to look at the above text.  In our text, we find King David addressing the nation of Israel.  He is presenting a message that would encourage them to thank Jehovah through both their words and their actions.

His message included teaching the people concerning:

1. Jehovah’s person and attributes (vs 11a)

2. Jehovah’s control of all things (vs 11b)

3. Jehovah’s blessings given to us (vs 12)

 

Following these teachings, David then declares “Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.  In other words, based upon his previous teachings about Jehovah, he now advises the people on their need to show appreciation for such a great God blessing them as He works in their midst. 

 

For our devotion this morning I would like us to come to a Scriptural understanding of what is meant by the concept of being “thankful” to the Lord.  In our text the word “thank” is translated from a Hebrew word that means “to hold out the hand”.  Scripturally, when we give thanks we are doing several things…

1.  we are acknowledging our need of Him (much like a baby holds out their hands to their mother asking to be picked up and carried.)  Scriptural thanksgiving involves in recognition and proclamation of our great need of Him in every area of our life… “in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28)

2.  we are pointing the attention to Him (much like a person holds out their hand pointing to an object that they want others to notice)  Much like John the Baptist directing the attention of His followers to Christ by saying “Behold the lamb of God who taketh away the sin of the world” (John 1:29).

3.  we are sending out our message of His goodness to us (much like we are handing over an object to someone by extending our hand.) This is much like the role of the Apostle Paul who handed the message of what Christ had done on his behalf to a lost and dying world. “…I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received,..” (1Cor 15:1)

 

To summarize the above, to give thanks to our Lord involves… being submitted to His will, recognizing our need of His blessings and motivated by appreciation and love, we tell others about what He has done for us, and how badly we need Him in our lives. 

 

As we enter into this “Month of Thankfulness” and we study all of the many blessings that He has given to us… let’s keep in mind our responsibility…. to love our Lord, appreciate Him, recognize our constant need of Him and thank Him through our speech and actions for all He has done for us!

 

(For an in-depth look at the entire text of 1 Chron 29:10-14, please see my posting entitled “Thanksgiving Devotion: Therefore O God, We Thank Thee”)

 

May the Lord bless us as we “Think On These Things”.

 




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