Psalm of Thanksgiving

(Due to technical difficulties, we did not have an audio recording, here is the manuscript)

Good Morning, I’m Alex Chatman, one of the Pastors here at Pillar Church. Today we’ll be continuing our study in the masterful work within the book of Psalms. More specifically, we’ll be in Chapter 116, so if you would, please take out your Bibles and turn there, and while you’re turning there I wanted to take a moment to give you something to consider. Over the last several weeks, we’ve taken some time in our Sermon Series to focus on our God. And you may be sitting here thinking yes – isn’t that what we’re supposed to do? The answer is yes. Normally we walk through a book of the Bible and express what God is doing throughout that book and consume from there what the Lord has provided. Well in the last couple of weeks – actually months, we have been very targeted in our focus. As you recall, in our Summer Series we studied the attributes of God. We examined both Old and New Testament Scriptures to get a better understanding of many of the attributes of our Lord God. This was done to help us better worship our God. This series, even though we’re in the book of Psalms, we’ve not gone through Psalm 1 with the intention of going all the way through Psalm 150 (of course with a three month focus on Psalm 119). Perhaps we’ll preach the entirety of the Psalms at some point, but our focus in our current Sermon Series, “In Every Season – Worshiping God through the Psalms”, we, once again, are being very purposeful by investigating each of the types and genres of the Psalms so that we can be better worshippers of our Heavenly Father. When we do this properly, we will rightly worship our God. Because worship is the product generated out of gratitude and thanksgiving. And to better understand thanksgiving, we’ll explore Psalm 116 – one of the many Psalms on Thanksgiving. So if you’re able, please stand for the reading of God’s Word:

I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. 2 Because he inclined his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live. 3 The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

5 Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. 6 The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

10 I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”; 11 I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.” 12 What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, 14 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.16 O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Let’s Pray

As we begin our study, it’s appropriate to provide some context of what’s going on in what we just read. Typically I would tell you about the author, when it was written, the backdrop of what was going on that the author, who was lead by God’s Holy Spirit to compose this poetic song. Well, we have none of that for this particular Psalm. The Psalmist is anonymous and we don’t know what had happened for him to be inspired to write this text. So let me briefly cover what is available in terms of this text. Psalm 116 is located in the 5th book of Psalms.

There are 150 poems that are split up into five clear sections.

Book 1: Psalms 1—41

Book 2: Psalms 42—72

Book 3: Psalms 73—89

Book 4: Psalms 90—106

Book 5: Psalms 107—150

Book 1 comprises 41 chapters and within this book there’s been placed a short introduction, Psalms 1 and 2, which establish the main themes of the entire collection of poetry and songs. These two chapters capture the main theme by reviewing the biblical storyline. The first two books depict the intriguing story of David and his royal family. The third book is a collection of poetry and songs that express the tragedy of Israel’s exile and the downfall of David’s royal line. Nevertheless, the fourth and fifth books highlight the hope for the Messiah, a new temple, and God’s Kingdom on the other side of the exile. Then book 5 ends with a five-part conclusion, praising God for his faithfulness. I’m not going to cover all of these, but here is the summary of the 5th book’s five-part conclusion:

Psalms 107–110: God’s mighty deeds and the future King. This series of psalms opens Book 5 by affirming God’s redemptive power and looking forward to the future king who will defeat evil and establish God’s kingdom.

Psalm 107 is a psalm of thanksgiving that recounts God’s deliverance of his people from distress.
Psalm 110 is a messianic and royal psalm that prophesies the reign of the Messiah.

Psalms 113–118: The Egyptian Hallel. This collection of praise psalms was traditionally sung during major Jewish festivals, such as Passover, to celebrate God’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt.

Psalm 119: The longest psalm. Situated in the middle of Book 5, this alphabetic acrostic poem praises the wonder and beauty of God’s law, or Torah. Its placement re-emphasizes the themes of Psalms 1 and 2 and links God’s word with messianic hope.

Psalms 120–134: The Songs of Ascents. These are a collection of 15 psalms believed to have been sung by pilgrims as they ascended to Jerusalem for the annual festivals.

Psalms 138–145: Final Davidic psalms. This set of psalms is attributed to David, a return to the Davidic psalms that dominated earlier books. These poems express individual and communal reliance on God.

Psalms 146–150: The Hallelujah Psalms. The book concludes with five exuberant psalms of universal praise that serve as the final doxology for the entire book of Psalms. Each one begins and ends with “Hallelujah,” or “Praise the Lord”.

Please know, I wanted us to see this breakout because of where Psalm 116 is within the entirety of these poems and songs. For 116 is known as the collection of praise psalms which were traditionally sung during major Jewish festivals, such as Passover. Understanding this will help us better appreciate what Jesus and His disciples were doing during the time of their passover meal. Which we’ll see as we progress through our text.

As we progress through our text today, I want us to see that we can Worship God in Every Season when our hearts respond out of a heart of thanksgiving. That is our Main Idea as well. To do that, we’ll see three very important points in our text today that will help us see how our hearts can respond in thanksgiving. Those three points are:

The private actions of Thanksgiving (1-9)
Thanksgiving stems from the reality of knowing the source of your gratitude (10-11)
The Public actions of Thanksgiving (12-19)

Let’s start with Point 1:The private actions of Thanksgiving (1-9)

Verses 1-9

8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

The Psalmist starts off with the B.L.U.F (Bottom Line Up Front). That he loves the Lord because the Lord has heard his voice and his pleas for mercy. And God has inclined His ear to hear him. Please don’t miss this, that here in the very first two verses we see that this is a personal encounter. Look at this with me: I love the LORD, because He has heard MY voice and MY pleas for mercy. Because HE inclined HIS ear to ME, therefore I will call on HIM as long as I live. This was a very personal encounter that we see here and this stems from experience and a deep sense of gratitude. Let’s pause here for a moment. I want us to have a proper framework for our time together. I want to give us ‘handles’ to pick this up, examine it, appreciate it, and then do something with it. Because when we do, you’ll see we can Worship God in Every Season when our hearts respond out of a heart of thanksgiving.

Here in the first two verses we see that there’s an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness because God has heard him.

Okay, here’s a great point we don’t want to miss. Last week Pastor Noah preached about Psalms of Lament. Many people don’t know that Psalms of Lament and Psalms of Thanksgiving are closely related. Psalms of Lament are songs or poetry while in a trial, whereas Psalms of Thanksgiving are songs or poetry that are after a trial. What our Psalmist is now showing us is that he is thankful for what God did when he was in the trial and that grows in thankfulness realizing what God has done. This is what generated the Psalmist’s attitude of gratitude. Because of this attitude of gratitude we see his thankfulness. Now let’s go a little deeper by examining what an attitude of gratitude and thankfulness is thereby giving some handles so we can more easily grasp this.

Gratitude is a profound emotional appreciation for God’s blessings, while

Thanksgiving is the outward action of expressing that gratitude, this can be accomplished through words, deeds, or song.

Think of it this way: gratitude is the internal feeling or mindset, and thanksgiving is the expression or demonstration of that feeling. Thanksgiving is, therefore, gratitude in action.

So the Psalmist has realized what God has personally done for Him and has this gratitude welling out and his outward expression is a proclamation of love. Brothers and sisters, I don’t want us to miss this. Here we are in this sermon series of ‘In Every Season – Worshiping God through Psalms’ we need to see that today’s study of the Psalms is focusing on Thanksgiving. If we don’t know what it is, then how are we going to properly worship our Lord God? Let’s think about this for a moment. Think about the last time you were in a pickle, or there was something you needed or wanted and you asked the Lord for help. Some of these requests may have been health related, like Lord will you heal me of this cold? Or Lord will you heal my sister who was injured in a car accident, or even Lord, will you heal my dear friend who has cancer? Often times these prayers are generated in solitude and perhaps with tears and mumbled speech. Then, when God answers them, do we properly worship our Lord God?

When we are thankful, we need to express that back to God. For we’ll ask and ask, but do we take time to say thank you? How long did we ask? How many minutes, hours, days, years? Then how long did we spend thanking Him? Seconds maybe? God deserves better. Let’s be intentional about our thankfulness back to our Lord God.

For our unnamed Psalmist is telling us right from the start that his worship is because He loves the Lord! His inward attitude of Gratitude is demonstrated by an outward expression of worship by stating his love for God. This is his private and personal revelation that is now proclaimed in thankfulness. Thereby showing us that we can Worship God in Every Season when our hearts respond out of a heart of thanksgiving. This is where I need to ask a rhetorical question, do you have an attitude of gratitude? Do you have an internal appreciation for our Lord such that you too can proclaim your love of our Lord? I know that’s a heavy question, but it is deserving of a real response. If you don’t have a resounding, yes, that’s ok. Perhaps you’ve not considered why. So let’s see how the Psalmist arrived at his proclamation by looking at verses 3 & 4.

The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anguish. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

We see that our Psalmist tells us that his private actions of Thanksgiving were brought about by realizing what God has done in rescuing him.

Let us appreciate the depth of his prayer. Let us appreciate how this is recorded for the people of Israel to sing this song of remembrance. Let us also consider that this was part of six songs that were sung at celebrations such as Passover and then let us appreciate what this means to us.

In terms of his prayer. The words that he prayed in private that we now see, gives us insight to the depth of his prayer. Words such as distress and anguish describe – torment, heartbreak, and to the level of torture. Anguish describes suffering, sorrow and despair. This is the heart and soul level pain that he brought before the Lord. Please know, this is a song of remembrance, this was important enough for God’s people to keep this in the writings of the Psalms because it speaks to the pain and anguish of their Nation during the many trials and tribulations that they went through. Especially as slaves coming out of Egypt. So this was very appropriate to sing at the Passover meal. Primarily because that meal was a remembrance of what God did to redeem His people. So let’s not forget how much pain the Israelites had to go through while they were in Egypt and also when they left Egypt. And right before God saved them, they, the Israelites found themselves before the Red Sea with Pharaoh and his army bearing down on them. The Israelites thought they were all going to perish because death encompassed them. Then they called out to the name of the Lord their God. Exodus 14:10 tells us:

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel cried out to the Lord.

And God heard their cries and delivered His people in a mighty way. This song was also likely sung by Jesus during the passover celebration with His disciples. It likely carried a great deal of pain for Him knowing that the snares of death had already been put in place by His betrayer – Judas. Jesus knew that He was going to suffer distress and anguish. In fact, even as He was praying to the Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground. Jesus knew when He was singing this Psalm what was in store for Him. But now, let us consider what this means to us. Have you ever got to this point in your life? That you felt like death encompassed you? Some of us have. Let me prod a little more. For those of you who don’t know Jesus or have put their faith into Jesus as their Lord and Savior, do you realize that your very soul is destined to Sheol? There you will suffer great distress and anguish…..for eternity. If you’ve not considered that, I am asking that you consider it now. For verse 4 has the answer that you need:

Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I pray, deliver my soul!”

For those of you who don’t know the Lord, I want you to know that right now, in private, that you can prayerfully consider this incredible offer – because right now, you can call out to the Lord in prayer and ask for Jesus to save you, He will. All you have to do is repent and put your faith in trust in His redeeming work and you will be saved. Then your private actions of prayer will become your personal declaration of thanksgiving for what Christ has done in your life. Please, please, if you have never considered that, please consider His offer today…. Like right now and you will personally see how gracious our Lord is.

Which brings us to verses 5-7:

Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. 6 The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, he saved me. 7 Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

The Psalmist goes on to describe why he loves the Lord. For the Lord is gracious, righteous, and merciful. These are many of the attributes we covered in our previous sermon series. This is who our God is and our Psalmist is stating that here. Our Psalmist knows this about God and was mindful enough to go before the Lord to even ask. Trusting in God’s grace. Trusting that God will deal with his request with mercy. Trusting in God because He is righteous and will always do right. Just knowing those alone about our God should push us to thankfulness. Knowing that God did this for the Psalmist because of who God is needs to propel us into a state of gratitude and then that gratitude into thanksgiving. For this is who God is and He didn’t just do this for someone of stature. We don’t even know who this author is, but we can see that it didn’t matter to God. For God did not do this for someone of high-acclaim, or someone who was sitting in a seat of authority. We see that God sees everyone. Even people like us for the text goes on to say that the Lord preserves the simple. Knowing this, I mean truly knowing – Gnosco – knowing will allow us to Worship God in Every Season because our hearts will respond out of a heart of thanksgiving.

Continuing in the text we see the Psalmist states this from a personal perspective. By saying when I was brought low, He saved me. The Psalmist knew that something was going on in his life where the odds were against him. That he deserved the treatment coming his way, and even though he was nothing special, he says simple, that God was so kind that He saved him. Clearly, the Psalmist was aware of what was going on in his life and then saw God’s hand move and save him. Now I look to you and ask, are you aware enough to see God moving in your life? Are you able to take a moment and see how God is moving even if you have a season of pain right now or maybe even a season of disappointment. Have you taken the time to consider God’s mercy, God’s grace, or His righteousness? Saved or unsaved, this is something we all need to do.

Oftentimes when I preach I’ll take purposeful time to encourage people to consider Jesus’ compassionate offer of salvation. But now, I want to ask those who have accept Christ – to take a moment to consider something. You see, the Psalmist and Israel thanked God for His salvation. And now the question, how much more should we? They only had the future hope of a coming Messiah while we have the finished work of Jesus in the Gospel done on our behalf. Our Psalmist captured his thanks in this Psalm as his response in Thanksgiving. Can I ask, how do you mark those things that God has done in your life? My first Bible doesn’t have the date that I accepted Christ but it has the date of the time period where I accepted Christ. Also, there have been folks who I’ve been blessed to pray for to come to Christ and when they did, I write those dates down as their spiritual birthday and I’ve been known to wish them a Happy Birthday on that day as a point of Thanksgiving back to the Lord for saving them. So please, consider how you, too, can respond out of a heart of Thanksgiving.

I’m sure there are other things that are wonderful that God has done in our lives but may not have considered it. Why, because this goes back to the internal gratitude and appreciation of who God is. And when we consider all the things that God has done for us, then the action of thanksgiving occurs. We even sing songs that remind us to consider what God has done. As an example, how about these lyrics:

Oh Lord, my God

When I, in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Then sings my soul, my Savior God to Thee

How great Thou art, how great Thou art

Please do not get caught up in all the business wherein you don’t have time to consider what God is doing in your life. For God deserves His praise and Glory, while satan is steady trying to steal it, kill it, or destroy it. And if satan can’t destroy, well….distraction will work. He does that too.

So what’s something that we can do about this? One of the ways you can do this is by setting apart a day during the week and consider who God is by spending time with Him by the reading of His Word. Then take some time to talk with Him in prayer. And then there’s nothing stopping you from breaking out in song. You know, we need to do something like this and even give it a name. Oh wait, that’s called Sabbath. Listen, I was so guilty of always being “on” that I missed out on my private actions of thanksgiving and that I was straight up robbing God of giving Him praise upon praise. So if you don’t have a regular practice of Sabbath, please consider it and take action on it. Sundays are a good day to do this, and I just want to let you know that corporate worship is great, but you still need one-on-one time with your Father. No one can do that for you.

Now, those private actions of the Psalmist have treated him well. Verses 8-9

8 For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living.

The Psalmist recognizes what God has done – that the Lord had dealt bountifully with him and now his soul can rest. Why? Because God had delivered his very soul from death, his eyes from tears and feet from stumbling. Listen, we have the same declaration through salvation. The moment we say yes to Jesus for His offer of forgiveness, we have now put our feet on solid ground. We are promised to be with Him, the Father and the Holy Spirit where there’s no more crying, no more pain. And get this, we go from death, to life. This is how we can walk before the Lord in the land of the living. But more importantly, let’s remember the greater importance of what this meant during Jesus’ passover meal with His disciples. Jesus knew what He was about to go through. Jesus knows the goodness of his Father. Jesus knew that the Father’s power was going to deliver Him from death – even a criminal’s death on the cross.

Now, as we examine verses 10 and 11, we see our:

second point that Thanksgiving stems from the reality of knowing the source of your gratitude.

I believed, even when I spoke: “I am greatly afflicted”; 11 I said in my alarm, “All mankind are liars.”

This part of the Psalm is admittedly a bit more difficult to understand. Several Biblical scholars had varying points of view. But here’s what I’m asking us to consider, that as the Psalmist is giving God thanksgiving for what He has done, that in the Psalmist’s “Alarm” he states all men are liars. First, let’s look at this word “Alarm”. Other translations say ‘in my haste’ vice in my ‘alarm’. Both are trying to convey a sense of suddenly being startled – to spring up suddenly. So, here we can see that the Psalmist is stating that he believed God even though he was greatly afflicted. Then in that reality of the affliction he quickly realized that ‘All mankind are liars.’ Meaning that, the reality is that the only one you can trust is God. Please also keep in mind that this is poetry as well and this is a way to highlight the point. What’s the point? That the schemes of man will not leave you with thanksgiving, but you are left with lies and likely with deceptive distractions. Here’s a simple – but telling example. When you turn on the news do you turn it on and you see story after story that leaves you with a spirit of gratitude? Keep in mind that gratitude leads to Thanksgiving. So if there’s no gratitude, there’s no Thanksgiving. Even in marketing products, typical products lead off with creating a sense for your dissatisfaction. That you are not pleased with what’s going on and that you need this product or service. I was bombarded this week by unsolicited video commercials on Youtube that told me I didn’t need to workout. That my aging body needed Thai-Chi.

Thus, Thanksgiving stems from the reality of knowing the source of your gratitude. This is a painful reality for many of us since we put too much hope in things that really could not deliver in it’s promises. Whether it was to lose weight this Summer for the perfect beach body, or a dating app promising you love and companionship, or worse yet – self-help literature that exclaims you can find true peace and thankfulness if you believe in ‘self’. That you are the determiner of your own fate. In all of this, God is the true source of our satisfaction and it’s because of the person and work of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Only through Him will you have the true source of your gratitude. Think about it, the Gospel message is all about how much God loves. But He will not excuse your sin. So He sent His Son to pay for your sin debt. And once you’ve said yes to Jesus – accepting the truth of that Gospel message you begin to see the rich beauty of the Gospel and our hearts cannot help be sing out in thanksgiving. For when you know Him, I mean spending intimate time with Him (abiding in Him) that you’ll begin to have an attitude of gratitude and that’s the source of thanksgiving.

Now let’s get to our Third and final point, the public actions of Thanksgiving. Verses 12-14:

What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits to me? 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, 14 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.

Here we can see the Psalmist ask a question – a question someone might ask once they’ve received something of great value. What shall I render, how can I repay, or what shall I give are other ways in which to view this question. Why is he asking that, because of all of the Lord’s benefits that were given to him. Once again, in our private actions, we will know and appreciate all that the Lord has done for us and for those around us. The natural response is what can I do or what can I give? Verse 13 tells us that he will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.

Now, here’s where a little historical context is important. Taking up the cup of salvation at the time of when the Psalmist wrote this meant that he will offer the drink-offerings appointed by the law, as a token of his thankfulness to God. This was not done in private, but amongst friends because of God’s goodness to him. This is called the cup of deliverance because it is drunk in memory of his deliverance. The pious Jews had sometimes a cup of blessing, at their private meals, which the master of the family drank first of, with thanksgiving to God, and all at his table drank with him. But some understand it is not the cup that he would present to God, but of the cup that God would put into his hand. I will receive. Let’s not miss this, that the cup of salvation is to be received. Thus, ‘I will lift up the cup’ paints this picture. For you don’t lift up a cup to give, you lift up a cup to receive. So I will receive the goodness that God has given me in salvation. This is another demonstration of why we observe the ordinance of Communion. That we look at the elements; the bread and the cup, and recognize that it was Jesus’ blood that was shed for us. So when we lift up the cup, it is a ceremonial receiving of what Jesus did for us on the Cross. His death has brought us life. His blood is what washed us clean and absolved us from the penalty of our sin. For it is His blood that saves us – thus we receive what Jesus has done for us in salvation. The Psalmist goes on to say, that he will call on the name of the Lord, and that he will pay his vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people.

The best summary I’ve read concerning this comes from Spurgeon. He writes:

To take the cup of salvation was in itself an act of worship, and it was accompanied with other forms of adoration, hence the Psalmist says, and “call upon the name of the LORD.” He means that he will utter blessings and thanksgivings and prayers, and then drink of the cup which the Lord had filled with his saving grace. What a cup this is! Upon the table of infinite love stands the cup full of blessing; it is ours by faith to take it in our hand, make it our own, and partake of it, and then with joyful hearts to laud and magnify the gracious One who has filled it for our sakes that we may drink and be refreshed. We can do this figuratively at the sacramental table, we can do it spiritually every time we grasp the golden chalice of the covenant, realizing the fulness of blessing which it contains, and by faith receiving its divine contents into our inmost soul. Beloved reader, let us pause here and take a long and deep draught from the cup which Jesus filled, and then with devout hearts let us worship God.

But let’s not miss this part, that our Thanksgiving is now in a public forum and is now visible. It’s in the presence of all of God’s people. When we’re truly grateful and our hearts are overflowing with joy, gladness, and gratitude. We stated earlier that Thanksgiving is the by-product of gratitude and it’s played out in worship. Which is why, once again, We can Worship God in Every Season when our hearts respond out of a heart of thanksgiving.

This is the point of our time together today. That in every season we can worship God through the Psalms and especially when we’re thankful. Can we pause here for just a brief moment? I’m going to talk to a select group of people right now.

Parents, you, out of all people, know that you don’t work for the praise of your children. Right? For in the early years of their life they don’t even have words. They may have coos, giggles and the desire to be in your company or the desire to be held, but they definitely don’t possess the ability to say thank you. But when they mature, and now are able, there’s a level of reciprocal appreciation that occurs. Do you know what I mean? That is because they are grateful and out of their gratitude they say thanks, you know that makes it seem all the more important and worthwhile. It’s not to say we do nice things for them just to get their approval and/or thanks. It’s just to point out that it’s nice to get it.

So let’s now consider when something really nice happens, that there has been mercy on top of mercy, benefits on top of benefits and your child says nothing. What’s the first thought that comes to your mind? Is it, ‘you’re ungrateful?’ Listen, hear me on this, let’s not be ungrateful to our God who has showered us with blessings galore. That our God is faithful – that He will never leave us or forsake us, that He who started a work in us will be faithful to complete it, even if we can’t see Him move.

Listen, our salvation was purchased at a cost – a very high cost. A King died for us. Also, let us keep in mind that all of the food we eat, air we breathe, the water that we drink and the good relationships we share with each other are all because of God and what He has done for us. Do you get that? That we need to have Public actions of Thanksgiving. Listen In the Bible, a natural expression for thanksgiving was a joyful proclamation of God’s goodness and grace, offered through praise, prayer, and confession. It is not merely a verbal “thank you” but a heartfelt response that acknowledges God as the source of all blessings. Furthermore, Thanksgiving was often a public act of worship using the word yadah, meaning “praise” or “give thanks,” often with raised hands. This can include entering God’s presence with music and song, recounting his deeds and attributes. This is how we can publicly express our attitude of gratitude back to our God. And notice that the public actions are actions that we do even now: We praise God in song, in worship, in prayer, and in the study of His Word. Even while we’re singing praises, some of us lift our hands – recognizing that God is worthy, that He is exceptionally worthy of bringing notice to and that He will hear our praises and thankful hearts. In terms of raising hands, one verse that has always stuck with me is Psalm 134:2.

Lift up your hands to the holy place and bless the Lord!

I know many of us don’t do this, but when you feel so moved, so lead, so inspired to worship our God by doing this, then let’s lift those hands and our praises high. This too is an example of public actions of Thanksgiving.

Now when we get to verse 15 it seems a bit odd to have this within the text, verse 15:

Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.

Now this isn’t here as a disclaimer that if someone dies, this is the escape clause. No, this is said in the reality that life on earth is not our home. That we can even be thankful even in death. One of the reasons why we can be thankful even during one of the absolute hardest times of our life, is knowing that death was not a part of the original design. God made us for Him. God did not want death for us. But we wanted to do things outside of His good design and death entered in. So knowing that God’s original design was to be with Him is part of the reason we can be thankful. One additional reason for being thankful even in death, God counted us so precious that death came to His very own Son. We know that God loves His Son and considers Him precious. We can be thankful that God made us a part of His family by adopting us. Giving us life because of the Precious life of His Son Jesus Christ.

That even though there’s a curse of death on these mortal bodies, that there’s an embrace of love because of the person and work of our Savior Jesus Christ. And here the Psalmist reminds us that when one of God’s Saints (BTW, that’s us – all who have been purchased by the blood of Jesus are now Saints) perishes, that God counts that life as precious. This, too, will influence our attitude of gratitude and our praises of thankfulness back to our Lord.

As we close, let’s look at these final verses as they show us more of the public actions of Thanksgiving. Verses 16-19:

O Lord, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds. 17 I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, 19 in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

The Psalmist recognizes yet another thing that the Lord has done and consequently pledges to be His servant. That God has loosed his bonds. Meaning that God has unshackled him, that God has released him from, what the Psalmist stated earlier, the snares of death, the pangs of Sheol. What was once a private action is now a public declaration in the company of fellow Saints. We also need to be giving God praise for this very thing. That we, too, have had our bondage to sin broken by the blood of Jesus Christ. Because of this, we are also the servants of Jesus Christ. Because of what Christ has done in us, now there’s space for Christ to work through us. Meaning we’re servants of the Most High God, but we can only serve when we have God’s Spirit filling us up to serve. When we try to serve out of our strength, out of our pride, out of our arrogance, then we’re serving for the wrong reason using the wrong fuel. We need to fueled by the Holy Spirit to glorify God and not ourselves. Please hear me, let’s be the servants God has called us to be by faithfully abiding in Jesus Christ and serving out of the abundance He has given us for the purpose of glorifying and serving Him.

As we look at the end of the text, we see the Psalmist state that he will offer the sacrifice of Thanksgiving. This once again is the natural expression of joy and the proclamation of God’s goodness. This isn’t done out of duty or out of blind compulsion. This is done out of love, out of gratitude. Thereby generating thankfulness. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 tells us:

16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

So let me encourage you to take some private time to remember what God has done in your life and the lives of others and then praise Him with a thankful heart. Then get together with some folks – they don’t even have to be Church-folk, and share with them what God has done in your life. Because God is the hero in all of our testimonies and for that we can end here as the Psalmist ends his song. PRAISE THE LORD!

Let’s pray

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