Category: Thirty Days of Thanksgiving in Psalms

Psalms 147:7 – Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:

This final verse of thanks finds us with Nehemiah, after the walls had been rebuilt, when they’d found the book of the Law and read it out to all the people.

When the children of Israel heard how they were supposed to be living, they fasted and repented. Then they had a covenant written which the men signed, and all the people promised by an oath that they would walk in God’s law.

After that the singer’s sang this Psalm of praise, worship and thanks to the Lord.

Once again, the goodness of God in bringing them back into their land, and allowing the Law to be discovered so they would know how to please Him, had moved the children of Israel to sing to the Lord in gratitude.

When we go to church today, let’s consider the hymns and songs we sing with a heart of thanksgiving to our God. He has poured out multiple blessings on us, more than we can count!

And we should be challenged as we enter into the season of celebrating His birth, to view it through the lens of gratitude. His coming as a baby is the fulfillment of the promise given to Eve in Genesis 3. Even though she and Adam disobeyed, God already had a plan of redemption in place.

Although His children did not keep His covenant, and failed to live by His Law, He offered them a space for repentance; and now He offers to all of us a better way of salvation through the perfect Lamb of God who has been offered up for our sins.

Every day should be overflowing with thanks, praise, worship and gratitude to our great God for our great Saviour, Jesus Christ.

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Our journey through Thanks in Psalms is over. Thank you so much for studying it along with me. I’ve been so challenged to start looking at my life with more thanksgiving to the Lord. I have no room for bitterness, anger or sadness when my heart is full of thanks. And sin looks different when I am constantly thanking God for His goodness. I pray that I don’t lose this new point of view.

May God richly bless you, my friends.

Psalm 140:13 – Surely the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name: the upright shall dwell in the presence.

Once again, David is fleeing for his life from Saul. There are spies everywhere. He has no idea who is loyal to him and who is feeding information to Saul.

He’s gathered a ragtag group of people with him, along with his brothers and family. I Samuel 22:2 says that the men who came to support David were those in distress, those in debt, and everyone who was discontented.

This wouldn’t have been a boost to most people’s confidence. But thankfully, David’s confidence wasn’t in himself. His faith was in God.

His words were big on faith. He prayed, “Deliver me, O LORD…preserve me…” And later he says “Keep me, O LORD…preserve me…”

Even though David’s deliverance didn’t come immediately, we know that ultimately he was safe from Saul and was made King of Israel. Because of his faith, he could give thanks to God and know that he lived in God’s presence.

Whose confidence do we walk in? When the way before us is unclear, the path behind us is filled with traps, nets and snares, and we don’t know who to trust, do we throw yourself on the deliverance of God?

My friend, as David tells us, the “righteous” will give thanks to God for deliverance, and the “upright” live in God’s presence. A righteous person is one who is holy in heart and observant of divine commands (the Word of God). “Upright” means to be honest and just.

If we want the Lord’s deliverance, we need to live God’s way. David knew that his preservation depended on his obedience. And at least during this stage of his life, he got that right. Later on, David had some serious stumbles, and the Lord did not deliver him from the consequences of those sins.

We need to learn the principle that God wants our heart. He wants to be assured of our thanksgiving because we are upright and live righteously. If we don’t live according to His Word, why would we want to give Him thanks?

Living according to God’s Word goes hand-in-hand with the joy of thanksgiving.

Thirty Days of Thanksgiving in Psalms Day 28

Psalms 136:26 – O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.

I’m sure you’ve noticed by now that all twenty-six verses in Psalm 136 end with the phrase “for his mercy endureth for ever.”

Since this a psalm, that means it’s a song; and this phrase would be the “chorus” to the song. It must’ve been beautiful to hear it sung in Hebrew!

We also find the repeating phrase “To him…”

What follows this phrase each time is a description of everything from creation to the overthrow of Pharaoh to the taking of the Promised Land. It’s a song of intense worship to God for Who He is and what He had done for the children of Israel.

It can be difficult, in a time of trial, to remember all of God’s goodness or His mighty acts on our behalf. But if we have a written list of God’s mercies in our life, we can look back and rejoice that the One who has carried us this far will continue to do so.

We would be wise to consider writing our own “stanzas” to this song for our families, but also for the edification of our own hearts. Journaling is a good way to keep track of God’s blessings, answers to prayer and miracles.

Or we could always do as the Lord commanded Joshua in Joshua 4, and make a nice pile of rocks! God told Joshua to leave a pile of rocks at the edge of the Jordan River as a memorial to God’s making a path for them as they came into the Promised Land.

God told them “that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones: Then ye shall answer them, That the waters of Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD…and these stones shall be for a memorial unto the children of Israel for ever.” (Joshua 4:6-8)

It is a wise practice to keep track of God’s goodness. There will be a day when we are low, or when we are facing a storm, and we’ll need to remind ourselves of the merciful acts of God in our lives. It will help us face the next challenge that comes along.

What stanza would you pen today to add to this song about the God’s mercy?

Psalm 136:3 – O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth for ever.

In verse one of this chapter, we saw that David used the word “LORD” in all upper case letters, as he referred to the English equivalent of the Hebrew name of God.

Here in verse three, the use of the lower case “o”, “r” and “d” indicates that David is referencing the character of God as our master.

Lord – a master, a husband, a nobleman, a ruler or governor; in Scripture, the Supreme Being, Jehovah
Master – one who rules, one who has supreme dominion

This name of God shows us that He has followers under His authority. That’s us! And from personal experience, I can give a testimony that God is a Lord like no other lord.

He leads like no other.
He always instructs His followers in the right direction.
He guards them and protects their way.
He is compassionate when they are wounded or hurting.
He is longsuffering when they are being stubborn and not submissive.
He encourages His followers with His Word, and His Spirit guides them from within.
He gently corrects them patiently, but He will also give stern punishment to bring them back into fellowship with Himself.

What a wonderful Lord He is! He is a master above all others.

I am so thankful that He rules my life so well. I know that I can trust Him to be good all the time.

I’d love to hear from you today! What are you thankful for when it comes to God being your Lord? How has God been a good master in your life?

Psalm 136:2 – O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.

According to Bible scholars, this Psalm was written after King David brought the ark of the covenant, with its mercy seat, back into Jerusalem, many decades after it had been taken by the Philistines.

I think verse two must’ve been inspired by the marked contrast between the gods of the Philistines and Israel’s God. That contrast is vividly described in I Samuel 4:1 – 7:2.

The ark of the covenant wasn’t just a piece of furniture. God tells Moses in Exodus 25:22 “And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat…”

The mercy seat sat on top of the ark. This was where the Israelites met with God. There was no tabernacle, no temple, no synagogue, no church building and no eternal salvation of the soul. The only place of communion with their God was the mercy seat on top of the ark of the covenant.

It was important. It was sacred. It was a holy place.

At one point in Israel’s history we read that the Philistines took the ark in battle. It’s almost humorous to read how God mocked their gods and idols; but it’s heart-breaking to read how many suffered and died due to their taking of the ark.

It was very powerful – more powerful than any other god or idol because it was the representation of the presence of God Almighty. No one and no thing could stand before it. It was dreadful to see the power of God move against those who opposed His instructions.

There is no god like our God. There is no god greater than our God. This was David’s point in verse two, as he reminisced about the way the ark of the covenant brought down the gods of the Philistines. And he was thrilled and thanking God for its return to its rightful place in Jerusalem.

The ark of the covenant and the mercy seat pointed toward the New Testament Christian who is now the dwelling place of the Spirit of the Lord. There we can commune with Him on the seat of our hearts, because of His enduring mercy.

From the Old Testament to the New, our God is the God above all gods. And He deserves our thanks, because His mercy endures for ever.

Psalm 136:1 – O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

We’ve studied this verse before, in several iterations, but the last phrase is going to be used in a beautifully poetic and powerful way in this chapter, so let’s be sure we understand the nuances of the phrase: “for his mercy endureth for ever.”

You’ll notice the word “forever” is not used here; but “for” and “ever.” Once again let’s define the words using Webster’s 1828 dictionary.

• Endure – to last; to continue; to remain; to bear; to suffer without resistance; to support without breaking
• For – to go; to pass; to reach or stretch
• Ever – at any time; at all times; continually; eternally; everlasting continuance; at one time and another; in any degree; without intermission

I find those definitions incredibly moving when I think about how God’s mercy has been that in my life: continually supporting without breaking to stretch to any time, all times, continually, eternally, in any degree without intermission.

The truth of that should rattle your soul – in a good way!

I sat for a bit at my desk today and just began to think about the ways God’s mercy has endured throughout my life. It was eye-opening, humbling and overwhelming.

There are too many to share in this devotion today, but I wanted to share this one:

After salvation the most precious mercy God showed me was in allowing me to be raised in a Christian home. I am so grateful for the work of salvation in my parents’ lives: my mom when she was a young girl and my dad when I was 4 years old. The change in his life completely turned our home around. It was evident that the Lord was in control of his life. The Word of God and the Church became the central theme of our family’s life. And that made all the difference to my life.

I have so much for which to thank the Lord. He has been and continues to be so GOOD in my life! His mercy has endured and endured.

I hope you spend some time this week, digging into the details of your life and following the scarlet thread of mercy that God left for you along the way.

Psalm 122:4 – Whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the LORD, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the LORD.

This verse is speaking of Jerusalem. It was the center of temple worship in Israel. It is where all the twelve tribes of Israel came to worship the Lord.

Psalm 122 is written by David after he had suffered deep betrayal at the hand of Absalom, his son. He’d had to abandon his palace and run for his life to escape death from the hands Absalom’s men. He had to leave his beloved Jerusalem, and he lived in the wilderness while avoiding being killed.

After Absalom’s death at the hands of Joab, and after the time of mourning was over, David was asked to return to Jerusalem, and the men of Judah welcomed him back as King of Israel.

This psalm was a loving tribute by David after returning to his city, Jerusalem. He was so pleased to be back in the temple there. He recalled how the tribes of Israel gathered in the beautiful city for the yearly sacrifices and how all of Israel thanked the Lord in the temple of Jerusalem. He promises in this psalm to seek peace for Jerusalem because it was where the house of God was built.

As New Testament believers, we no longer return to yearly sacrifices in Jerusalem. Our Lord laid down His life as the final sacrifice. Our sacred place is no longer a physical place, but rather in the heart where we fellowship with our God.

However, we aren’t to forsake assembling together with other believers (Hebrews 10:25). Our church congregation is now the place where we can draw near to the Lord, be reassured of our faith, hear the Word of God, and encourage and pray for each other. (Hebrews 10:22-24)

Be sure as you worship, regardless of the circumstances in your life, whether you are meeting with the Lord in your personal quiet time, or gathering with other Christians in your local church, to keep a place to “give thanks unto the name of the LORD” just like they did in Jerusalem.

As we’ve seen throughout our study, thanksgiving is indelibly tied to worship. How can we honor, respect, adore and reverence our God without a heart full of thankfulness to Him?