In the face of trials, what do we do?
“‘Offer to God thanksgiving, And pay your vows to the Most High.
“‘Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me’” (Psalm 50:14-15).
When we find ourselves greatly blessed, what do we do?
“‘Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good!
“‘For His mercy endures forever’” (1 Chronicles 16:34).
In our time, thankfulness to God is not something practiced or even rightly understood. God is not glorified as the Creator of all things. Rather, He is ignored and shamelessly disobeyed! Nevertheless, Jesus said of the Father that “‘…He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust’” (Matthew 5:45).
King David extolled God with overflowing thankfulness. His Psalms reflect praise and thankfulness to God (Psalm 23; 145), and many other Psalms in the Bible also laud and exalt God (Psalm 100;148).
We need to take the time to reflect on the majesty of God in the context of our own lives—especially our calling to the Truth of God and eternal life. David wrote:
“LORD, what is man, that You take knowledge of him?
“Or the son of man, that You are mindful of him?” (Psalm 144:3).
We have been called to “shine as lights in the world” (Philippians 2:15). Being thankful to God in the darkness of this age is our great challenge: “As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving” (Colossians 2:6-7).
