Give thanks to the Lord for He is good. For His love endures forever.”
That was the reaction of the writer of Psalm 118 after experiencing deliverance from powerful foes who threatened to end both his life and the life of the nation of Israel.
Through the ages Christians have echoed that reaction in appreciation for God’s guidance and rescue in times of trouble. The first permanent settlers in Jamestown, Va., proclaimed a public Thanksgiving in 1610 to commemorate their survival in a new land. Nine years later another group of English settlers wrote into the charter for the Berkeley Hundred community of Virginia that Dec. 4, the day of their arrival in America, would annually be observed as a day of Thanksgiving to God for their safe journey.
“I will give thanks for You answered me, You have become my salvation,” wrote the Psalmist (v. 21). That sentiment is a common thread in days of thanksgiving up to this very day.
Interestingly Thanksgiving has not been a church-sponsored holiday. Rather it has been the response of a grateful people through their civil government to acknowledge dependence on God and express praise to Him for His watch care.
Thanksgiving Day declaration
In 1789 President George Washington declared the first Thanksgiving Day designated by the new national government. He wrote in part, “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly implore His protection and favor … I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th of November next to be devoted by the people of these states to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be.”
During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln wrote in his 1863 Thanksgiving declaration, “To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. … No human counsel hath devised nor that any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”
How like the Psalmist who wrote in verses 13–14, “I was pushed back and about to fall but the Lord helped me. The Lord is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation.”
Pollsters report a growing percentage of Americans who no longer believe in God, yet they will be hard to find this Thanksgiving Day. As families gather for their traditional thanksgiving meal practically all will express thanks in some way.
To whom will that thanks be expressed? Will it be to chance or blind luck? Why be thankful to chance? No even the drive to express thanks demonstrates the need of the human heart to reach beyond itself to the “beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is or that will be.”
Christians understand “it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man” (v. 8). That is why Thanksgiving is not expressed toward prince or potentate or president. Thanksgiving is focused toward God. He is the One who answers amid our anguish (v. 5). He is the One who becomes Helper (v. 7), the One to whom we look for triumph over our circumstances.
Like Washington and Lincoln the Psalmist declares, “The Lord’s right hand has done mighty things” (v. 15). That is our confession too.
God’s goodness evidences His love for us, declares the Psalmist. That love is not limited to a single person or a particular nation but is for all “those that fear the Lord” (v. 4). In confidence the writer adds, “I will give thanks for You answered me, You have become my salvation.”
Christians have every reason to give thanks to God for the abundant goodness received from His hand. Lincoln referenced these gifts “so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come” as “fruitful fields and healthful skies.” For most that has been true so “for the bounty of the earth” we give thanks.
The Psalmist offers thanks for being delivered from his trials and promises to express thanksgiving through a righteous life (v. 19). The righteous gates mentioned here lead to God and only the righteous may enter. The implication is clear. Professions of thanks must always be validated with conduct consistent with one’s words.
Thanksgiving is usually tied to deliverance but earthly deliverance is not always the outcome of life’s circumstances. Even here the Psalmist offers reason for thankfulness. “The Lord is with me, I will not be afraid,” he declares in verse 6. Since God is with us “what can man do to me?” God will certainly rescue the believer in this life or the life to come.
Bible students recognize Psalm 118 as a Messianic Psalm and the most often quoted Psalm in the New Testament. The Palm Sunday crowd quoted verse 26 as they hailed Jesus as “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Both apostles Peter and Paul quote verse 22, “The stone the builder rejected has become the capstone,” as a reference to Jesus.
Centuries before the birth of Jesus, the Psalmist pointed toward God who “has made His light shine upon us” (v. 27). The apostle John uses this theme to describe Jesus as the “light of the world.” Even though Thanksgiving may be a secular holiday, every Christian cannot help but give thanks to God for His redeeming love expressed through Jesus Christ.
With abundant reasons to praise God, we join with the Psalmist to declare this Thanksgiving that “You are my God and I will give You thanks. You are my God and I will exalt You” (v. 28).
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