Being thankful is not an easy thing. It is especially difficult when we are experience a “frowning Providence” as the Puritans used to say (that is, difficult circumstances). We live in a world where people around us get ill, car accidents occur, marriages break up, children disobey, wars happen, and so on… You only have to look at the evening news or a newspaper to see that the world is not only not perfect, but that it can be a dangerous and sad place. The Bible tells us that there is a reason for this - sin. Because sin entered into the world, because Adam decided that independence was better than dependence on God (Romans 5:12), because people in their pride think that they know better than God, because of all this we experience pain, suffering and death. Sometimes it is enough to make us want to pull the covers over our eyes in the morning and not get out of bed, let alone be thankful!

But thankfulness is a command. It is not just something that should come to our mind when we have an “official” holiday. Paul tells the Colossians that they are to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.” (Col. 3:15). The Psalms are full of calls to “give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart” (Ps. 9:1); to “magnify Him with thanksgiving” (Ps. 69:30); and to “give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise” (Ps. 106:47) among other places. In fact, a form of “thank” occurs some 56 times in the Psalms alone (161 time in the whole Bible)! Our Lord Jesus Christ made it a central part of his life to be thankful to His Father. We see this when he told parables, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children” (Matthew 11:25) and when He raised Lazarus, “And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me” (John 11:41).

How can we be so thankful? The Bible helps us here as well. The primary way that we can cultivate thankfulness in our own lives is by prayer. Paul’s life is a wonderful example of this. He writes, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you” in the context of prayer for the Philippians church and their assistance to him in the gospel (Philippians 1:3-6). The same thing could be said of Paul’s prayers for the church at Colossae: “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you” (Colossians 1:3); and of his prayers for Timothy: “I thank God whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day” (2 Timothy 1:3).
Another thing that cultivates thankfulness is evangelism. When we bring the good news of the gospel to others, we cannot help but be overwhelmed by what the Lord has done for us. So when Paul writes to the Romans, he says “I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is proclaimed in all the world” (Romans 1:8). Yet another way to grow in thankfulness is through the Word of God. Paul rejoices to hear that the Thessalonian church was abiding in the Word of God proclaimed: “And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13) We also see that the Word of God sung is a spur to thankfulness (Colossians 3:15-16).

John Piper Video

This video has been making the rounds on the internet for about a month now (I first saw it listed on the OPC email list), but it is just too good not to bring to everyone’s attention. I think it is especially appropriate as we approach Thanksgiving Day. Rev. Piper helps us to see how thankful we should be for the “glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).

The Coming Lord’s Day

This week as we come together, let us be thankful also for the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and the communion that we have in Christ. We also need to remember that the source of all our thankfulness is the Lord Himself, as the hymn-writer of “O Come, My Soul, Bless Thou the Lord”

O come, my soul, bless thou the Lord thy maker,
And all within me bless his holy name;
Bless thou the Lord, forget not all his mercies,
His pardoning grace and saving love proclaim.

Pastor Carroll will be preaching the next installment in his series on the book of Haggai this week, “Build My House” (Haggai 1:7-11). I look forward to seeing you all and blessing the Lord with you.

To download a PDF copy of this week’s Bulletin, please download here.

This week we will be singing the Reformed University Fellowship (RUF) version of Psalm 51 (”God Be Merciful to Me“). You can find a copy of the bulletin insert showing the song, and you can also download the MP3 sample of the song.