by Wendy Reaume

Some of the psalms are just songs of general thanksgiving, focusing on God’s blessings. I wonder if we have lost the art of being thankful. We teach our children to say please and thank you but do we remember to thank God for His blessings each day? 

We are commanded in Scripture to be thankful people. Here are a few examples of doing just that from the Psalms. 

Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! (Psalm 107:1)

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. (Psalm 103:2-5)

I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness; I will sing the praises of the name of the Lord Most High. (Psalm 7:17)

I will give thanks to you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all your wonderful deeds. (Psalm 9:1)

I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs I will praise you. (Psalm 35:18)

I will praise God’s name in song and glorify him with thanksgiving…Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation…Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song…Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name…give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love endures forever…Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind…I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors…(Psalms)

This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.  (Psalm 118:24)

When people gather together on Sunday anywhere in the world one of the things every church does is sing. This is actually an act of worship. We rejoice, we are glad and we offer to God songs of thanksgiving. If you listen closely to the words that are being sung, many of the lyrics thank God for who He is (His character and qualities) and for what He has done (His love in action). Hebrews 10:25 says ‘And let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another. And all the more as we see the Day approaching.’ One of the benefits of gathering together in person is we can participate in corporate thanksgiving, and this in itself is not just worship to God but an encouragement to each other as we remember and celebrate in thankfulness. When a new baby is born into a family the whole family rejoices. People rush to the hospital or baby shower to celebrate that new life and to rejoice with the parents. When we get a promotion at work or an A+ on that paper in college we can hardly wait to share the news. We grab our cell phone whenever there is good news and post it or think ‘who will I call to tell first?’ In the same way, lifting your hands and voices in songs of thanksgiving is deeply meaningful when we stand next to our brothers and sisters in Christ and offer our songs together. Today’s challenge is to listen to 2 praise songs and think on the words. Enter into thanksgiving with the artist and join with them in their praise and thanksgiving and then hopefully we will have the opportunity to do the same corporately on Sunday. This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it!

You look up songs of thankfulness that you love, but here are a couple of suggestions in case you can't think of something:

 The Blessing by Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes

and

I Thank God by Housefires.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW3c4cHgKNk