In Nathaniel Philbrick’s book, The Mayflower and the Pilgrims’ New World, he writes that when the Pilgrims first landed in America on November 11, 1620, Governor William Bradford wrote: “‘They fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.’” (p. 44)

That’s what the first Thanksgiving was all about: giving thanks to God for His blessings of safety and provision in bringing them and sustaining them in the New World.  And OUR Thanksgivings should be about that too. Many of us enjoy a lot of things about our Thanksgiving week: time off, time with family, good food, hopefully cooler weather!, football, shopping — and most of those things are good. But our primary emphasis should be what the Pilgrims’ was: giving thanks to God for His blessings and provision for US. 

That’s why this Sunday before Thanksgiving, I felt led to share a special Thanksgiving message from God’s word. I’ve shared before that Psalm 118 is a scripture the Lord used to minister to me while Cheryl & I were in the hospital and rehab after her stroke. I had just finished memorizing Psalm 118 when the stroke came, and so every morning I would quote Psalm 118 (or Psalm 116) on the couch in the hospital to begin my day. And significantly, it begins with a word of thanksgiving: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Every day I would start with this word: “Give thanks to the Lord.” Let’s look at some things that Psalm 118 and other scriptures tell us about giving thanks to the Lord:

I. The Priority of Giving Thanks

First of all, as I mentioned, Psalm 118 begins right off with a word of thanksgiving: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good …”. It’s significant that right off the bat, this Psalm instructs us to give thanks to God, because we see this principle of beginning with thanksgiving all through God’s word:

We see it repeatedly in Psalms like Psalm 118 — and many others which teach us to lead off our prayers with thanksgiving:

— Psalm 9:1 “I will give thanks to the LORD with all my heart”

— Psalm 75:1 “We give thanks to You O God, we give thanks …”

— Psalm 92:1 “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High”

— Psalm 105:1 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name”

— Psalm 106:1 “Praise the Lord! Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good”

— Psalm 107:1 “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, For His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

— Psalm 111:1 “Praise the Lord! I will give thanks to the Lord with all my heart …”

— Psalm 136:1 “Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting”

— Psalm 138:1 “I will give You thanks with all my heart …”

And those are just the ones where it is in verse ONE — there are multiple more giving thanks in the first parts of the Psalms.

We also see thanksgiving at the beginning of many other Old Testament prayers:

— I Chronicles 16, when King David assigns Asaph and his brethren to lead Israel in praise to God for bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to them, the song they led began in :8 with the words: “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name …”

— II Chronicles 20:21 when Israel was invaded, King Jehoshaphat sent out the priests against the enemy, and the song they sang began: “Give thanks to the LORD, for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

— In Jeremiah 33:11 God says of devastated Jerusalem that once again prayers will be prayed there, and what they will say? “Give thanks to the LORD of hosts, for the LORD is good …”

In the New Testament, almost every one of the letters of Paul to the churches begins with a word of thanksgiving:

— Romans 1:8, “FIRST, I thank my God through Jesus Christ …”. In the first letter of Paul in the New Testament, he says “FIRST I thank God.” This is significant. This fits with this Biblical principle of thanking God first.

— I Corinthians 1:4, “I thank my God always concerning you …”

— Ephesians 1:16 “(I) do not cease giving thanks for you ….”

— Philippians 1:3 “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you”

— Colossians 1:3 “We give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ …”

So Paul regularly followed this principle as well: start with thanking God.

We see this principle taught outright in Psalm 100:4, where it says:

“Enter His gates with thanksgiving, and His courts with praise.”

Here the scripture teaches us what we see by example in so many other places: this is the way we are to come before God: with thanksgiving!

Coming to God with thanksgiving is our first and most important priority.

We see in Psalm 118 that this is characteristic of the righteous: Psalm 118: = this is what the righteous DO: they give thanks. Look at :19-21,

“Open to me the gates of righteousness, I shall enter through them; I shall give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous will enter through it. I shall give thanks to You …”

THIS is what righteous people DO, Psalm 118 says: they come through the “gates of righteousness” — and give thanks to the Lord. First thing “in the gate,” in a sense; first thing we do; is thank God. 

So we see it all through Psalms, elsewhere in the Old Testament, all through the New Testament, and in specific teaching. Giving thanks to God is a priority; it is the first thing on the lips of God’s people.

So how do we apply this? At least a couple of ways:

— Start every prayer with thanksgiving. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving.” Don’t lead off your prayer with your requests; no enter with thanksgiving. Start with: “I thank You Lord for …” and begin with thanksgiving. “Enter His gates with thanksgiving.” Start your prayers by thanking God.

— Start every day with thanksgiving. “This is the gate of the Lord, the righteous will enter through it.” If you’re saved, you’re one of those “righteous,” so every day you get up, “enter that gate” by giving thanks to God. This is why I love to begin each day with a Psalm, usually a Psalm that starts with thanksgiving, or includes thanksgiving, and then I’ll spend a good amount of time just thanking God for every specific blessing I can remember from the day before — and then thank Him for spiritual blessings, like His forgiveness, and His word, and His Spirit in me, and the hope of glory with Him. Christians have a LOT to be thankful for: so let’s “enter His gates with thanksgiving;” starting our prayers, and our days, thanking God. The Priority of giving thanks.

II. The Best Reason for Giving Thanks

So as I said, we have a LOT of reasons for giving thanks (like the song says, “10,000 Reasons”!) but there is ONE reason that is greater than any other, and we see it referenced here. If you look back at :19-21 from just a minute ago, you see that he says: “I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me — and have become my SALVATION.” There’s a LOT of things we should be thankful to God for, but by far the greatest is our salvation. 

And then significantly, Psalm 118 continues in :22 and following:
“The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.”

Does that verse sound familiar? Jesus quoted it in Matthew 21:42 in the New Testament, and Peter referred to it in I Peter 2:4, where he wrote: “And coming to Him as to a living Stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God.” Peter said Jesus was the Cornerstone! Rejected by “the builders,” the Jews, but God made Him the chief Cornerstone: all our salvation depends on Him. 

So notice how much Psalm 118 refers to our salvation:

— He says in :21 “I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me, and have become my salvation.”

— Then under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit he prophesies where that salvation will come from 800 years later: “the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief corner stone.”

— And THEN he says in :24, “This is the day which the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” We often like to quote this when we get up in the morning: “Today is the day the Lord has made” — and it IS, but can’t you see it ultimately means MORE than just that; this verse comes in the context of our SALVATION through “the Stone which the builders rejected”! So when he’s talking about “this is the day which the Lord has made,” he’s not just saying “God made this day;” NO, he’s talking about the “day of SALVATION” that God has given us in Jesus! We’re in a new day; we’re in a day of God’s grace, and forgiveness, and salvation in Jesus.” He says in :27 “bind the festival sacrifice with cords to the horns of the altar” — that HAPPENED in Jesus! The sacrifice, the perfect Man, Jesus Christ, was bound to the “altar” of the cross, and the sacrifice was made, and our sins were paid for. And now we stand in God’s grace; now we stand forgiven; now we have the promise of heaven and eternal life. “THIS is the day which the Lord has made” — not just “this 24-hour day,” but “the day of salvation” (II Cor. 6:2) God gave us in Jesus. THIS “day of salvation” is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it. We thank Him, BECAUSE He has become our salvation — just as :21 says. Our salvation in Jesus is our greatest and ultimate reason for giving thanks. We should be so humbled, and so thankful, every day, for the salvation God gave us in Jesus.

After Cheryl’s stroke, we’d been at Jenny Sealy hospital in Galveston for a week, and the doctor said it’s time for her to be discharged. He said, she will have the best chance at the fullest recovery, if she’ll go to a full-time rehab for two full weeks or more. We contacted the rehab, and because of our insurance situation, they said you’ll need to pay 1/2 of the total amount down, to get her in: I said what is that amount? They said “it will be $27,000, and we need it tomorrow.” Man, I started scrambling, trying to get at money we have in different places, but I could not get it all in 24 hours; I could get a chunk of it, but I couldn’t get it all. One account said you can have it in a week; my retirement said you can get to it in 3 weeks. I was almost in despair. Cheryl needed to be in there now, and we weren’t even close to being able to take care of her at home. That morning, one of my relatives who knew about our situation sent me a gift of an electronic transfer, and when I saw it I couldn’t believe it. Not only because of the amount, but because I knew they were not that well off. I couldn’t believe they would sacrifice like that, for us. I was so humbled. How do you thank someone for a gift like that? Hours later that day, after we got it all together, and got Cheryl accepted, I sat there thinking, how do you thank someone for a gift like that? it’s just so humbling, and you’re so thankful.

But then I thought: THIS IS HOW WE OUGHT TO FEEL EVERY DAY BECAUSE OF WHAT GOD DID FOR US IN JESUS! Think about it: the Son of God, “the darling of heaven,” the apple of God’s eye and the glory of the angels, humbled Himself to leave heaven and come to earth, and allow Himself to be mocked by men He created, and spat on, and beaten, and nails driven through His hands and feet, and bear the filth of all of our sin on His pure spotless soul, and DIE on the cross — for ME! For US! 

Talk about being humbled by the generosity of a gift; we should all feel unspeakable gratitude like that every day, because of what God has done for us in Christ. Every day we ought to be singing: “Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou my God woulds’t die for ME?!” Nothing compares to this; no other gift compares to this. If God never did anything else for us, we should spend all eternity praising and singing and thanking God for the salvation He just GAVE us in Jesus. 

DO YOU HAVE THIS SALVATION?

— If you don’t you need to make sure you get it — today. II Corinthians 6:2 says “NOW is the accepted time; TODAY is “the day of salvation.” “THIS is the day the Lord has made”; NOW is the time to do it! Right now, this morning, repent of your sins and put your faith in Jesus as your Lord & Savior.

— And if you DO have it already, then thank God for it, every day. Nothing else you have or ever will have, compares to this. It’s your absolute best reason for giving thanks. 

III. The Lifestyle of Giving Thanks 

So how do we apply this? Because of the priority that thanksgiving should have in our lives, and because of the magnitude of what God done for us, our whole lives should be characterized by gratefulness. To me it’s striking that thanksgiving is not just mentioned once in Psalm 118, but it is all through this Psalm: It begins with :1, “Give thanks to the LORD …”, then we see it again in :19, “I will give thanks to the Lord,” and again in :21, “I shall give thanks to You,” and just as he opened the Psalm with thanks, so he closes it in the last two verses (:28-29), with more thanks: “I give thanks to You,” and a final “Give thanks to the Lord.” Thanksgiving is woven all through Psalm 118, and similarly thanksgiving should we woven all through each of our lives as well: in good times; in difficult times; ALL the time!

A. In Good Times

It’s easy to give God thanks in good times, when good things happen. Or it SHOULD be! Still, prosperity tests us, doesn’t it: do we give God thanks for what He did for us?

I think of the story of the 10 lepers in Luke 17. Ten lepers met Jesus on the road between Samaria & Galilee and asked: “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.” Jesus told them to go show themselves to the priests (what people did when they were healed) and on the way, they were healed! Verse 16 says ONE of them, a Samaritan, came back and fell at Jesus’ feet and gave Him thanks. Jesus said, “But the nine, where are they?” Of the ten who were healed, only one came back to give Him thanks. 

And if you think about it, that’s probably about right: maybe we give thanks to God for about a tenth of the blessings He has given us. We need to make sure we don’t take His gifts for granted. Thank Him for your food; thank Him for your material blessings; thank Him for your spiritual blessings; on and on. Someone has well said: “What if we only had today, the things that we thanked God for yesterday?” We should all ask ourselves: which of the two groups in Luke 17 am I more like:

Am I more like the 9, or the one?  Let’s make sure we give God thanks in our good times, for all our blessings. Many of us can do that this week!

B. In Difficult times:

But it’s not always “good times,” is it? We all have difficult times in our lives too. But even in those times, we should be in the habit of thanking God. It’s harder to do — but it can and should be done.

Corrie Ten Boom tells the story of how when she and her sister Betsie where thrown into a German concentration camp for helping Jews. 

They found that their bunks in the camp were swarming with lice. Corrie wailed: “‘Betsie, how can we live in such a place?’’

‘Show us. Show us how.’ (Corrie said) it was said so matter of factly it took me a second to realize (Betsie) was praying …. ’Corrie!’ She said excitedly. ‘He’s given us the answer … In the Bible this morning … “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus” … That’s it, Corrie! That’s His answer. “Give thanks in all circumstances”! That’s what we can do. We can start right now to thank God for every single thing about this new barracks!

I stared at her, then looked around me at the dark, foul-aired room. ‘Such as?’ I said.

‘Such as being assigned here together.’

I bit my lip. ‘Oh yes, Lord Jesus!’

‘Such as what you’re holding in your hands.’

I looked down at the Bible. ‘Yes! Thank You, dear Lord, that there was no inspection when we entered here! Thank You for all the women, here in this room, who will meet You in these pages.’

‘Yes,’ said Betsie. ‘Thank You for the very crowding here. Since we’re packed so close, that many more will hear!’ She looked at me expectantly. ‘Corrie!’ She prodded.

‘Oh, all right. Thank You for the jammed, crammed, stuffed, packed, suffocating crowds.’

‘Thank You,’ Betsie went on serenely, ‘for the fleas and for —’

The fleas! That was too much. ‘Betsie, there’s no way even God can make me grateful for a flea.’

‘Give thanks in all circumstances,’ she quoted. ‘It doesn’t say, “in pleasant circumstances.” Fleas are part of this place where God has put us.’

And so we stood between piers of bunks and gave thanks for fleas. But this time I was sure Betsie was wrong.” (HIDING PLACE, TEN BOOM, p. 209-210)  Of course, even the fleas and lice ended up being a blessing, because the guards wouldn’t come near them to get their Bibles, or break up their Bible studies! 

The Bible says that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) God is working in everything; using everything — even cancer; even a crippling stroke; even “all things,” just like His word says. How many people have heard Cheryl’s testimony? How many people read my article in the FACTS about how God was with us through this time? How many people are reading about the answered prayers on Facebook? How many people are now walking every day, or memorizing scripture, because of Cheryl’s testimony? It’s hard to say “thank You for the stroke,” but I tell you what, there is a lot we have to be thankful for in this stroke: how God is using it; how He has drawn us closer together than ever before; how He is providing for us — yes there is much to be thankful for, even in the difficult times — especially since we have the greatest gift God gave us in Jesus. All these difficult times will soon be a wisp of memory — but we’ll rejoice forever in the Kingdom of God. We can always thank God for that, even in our most difficult times. So if you’d say today, I’m not in a “good time,” I’m in a really hard time. Thank God. You still have so much to be thankful for in this time. 

C. ALL the time!

As we saw, :24 is true of first of salvation, but we CAN also say it, every day that we get up: “THIS is the day that the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it”!

We should give thanks every day. We should give thanks ALL the time:

I Thessalonians 5:18 “In everything give thanks, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” People are always seeking God’s will: “What’s God’s will for me; what’s God’s will for my life?” You want to know what God’s will for you is? He wants you to THANK HIM in every situation! “In everything give thanks.”

Give thanks for things large & small, all the time. When as a young man  George H.W. Bush was far from home in the miltary he wrote to his parents: “I have never appreciated little things before: A cold Coke after drill can do more for one than you can imagine … Ice cream, movies, a 15 minute rest, a letter, a compliment to our platoon. All these little things amount to so much in your mind and it is fun.” (Jon Meacham, Destiny and Power, p. 51) 

He learned to appreciate all those little things — and appreciating all the little things is a BIG deal! It makes a huge difference in your life. Because there are basically two ways we can choose to live:

— We can choose to criticize, and gripe, and complain about everything we see, all day long — that’s one way to live life, and lot of people do it!

— OR we can choose to live a thankful life — thank God for every little thing, all day long. This is what God commands us repeatedly in His word to do. And it will radically change our lives if we will do it! We will be much more positive; more emotionally healthy — and much more pleasant to be around, too, by the way. People enjoy being around thankful, positive people. And it’s better for you too. 

Soon many of us will be watching classic Christmas movies. One popular favorite is White Christmas with Bing Crosby. In it he has a song: “When I worry and I can’t sleep, I count my blessings instead of sheep. And I fall asleep counting my blessings” Now, that’s not a “religious” song really, but we as Christians have even MORE real reasons to be able to do that: God has given us so much, that we can literally fall asleep counting our blessings! We have so much to be thankful to God for!

And this is what God wants us to do: don’t roll those worries over and over in your mind like so many of us tend do; instead, count your blessings in your mind over and over. “In everything give thanks.” It’s better for you — and it may even help you sleep! 

CONCLUSION:

If you could pick ONE THING to do, that would dramatically revolutionize your life and change our outlook, this would be that thing: “In everything give thanks.”  Giving thanks changes your mental outlook; it lifts your emotions; it draws you to God; it helps you see your blessings and not just your problems; it makes you grateful and satisfied instead of worried and dissatisfied. 

Someone said they start the day by giving thanks for 10 things. That’s good; but as I mentioned, I think we can do even better than that. As I said, I typically start my morning with a Psalm — usually one with thanks in it — and then spend the whole first part of my prayer time just reviewing the previous day, and thanking God for everything good in it — it’s a lot! And then move on to the spiritual blessings God’s given. It’s the absolute best way to start the day; talk about “starting the day on the right foot;” Start with thanksgiving. It will powerfully affect your life.

Let me share a word of personal testimony: Cheryl & I have just been through what is undoubtedly the worst 3 months of our lives. My mother’s husband passed away in August; my brother in law, beloved by our kids and grandkids, died of cancer in October; my mom passed away in November; and Cheryl had a devastating stroke that crippled half of her body the last day of August, and we’ve been struggling to keep our heads above water ever since. We have never been through a succession of such things in our lives, and I hope we never will again. It’s been hard. It’s been dark. But let me tell you this: every day the past 3 months I have gotten up first thing in the morning, and every day, I’ve started with Psalm 118:1 (or another Psalm like it): “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.” Giving thanks to God through His word has saved our lives; giving thanks to God has kept us sane the past 3 months; giving thanks to God has drawn us closer to Him in this darkness than we ever have been before. Giving thanks to God is not a “cute little prayer” we teach our kids. Giving thanks to God is how we are to LIVE as God’s people. Giving Him thanks is not “hard;” it’s not “complicated; we can all do it; young and old, baby Christian or seasoned saint. But we DO have to do it! And it’s your choice as to whether you will do it or not. Will you change your attitude? Will you change your life? You can! Even in the worst day of your life — but you’ll do better then if you’ll get in the habit of it right now: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; for His lovingkindness is everlasting.”