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Giving Thanks — A Revelation of God's Love

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good.
His love endures forever.
(Psalm 136:1 NIV)

This is a powerful song of praise, used many times in the Psalms as well as a number of other places in Scripture:

 

• It is the song David established for worship in the “tabernacle without walls” where the newly returned Ark of the Covenant was placed (1 Chronicles 16:37-41).
• It is the thanksgiving offered as the praise singers lifted their voices in unison with the trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, when the Ark was brought into the temple built by Solomon. When this praise was offered, the house was so filled with the glory cloud of the LORD that the priests could not stand up to minister because of it (2 Chronicles 5).
• When the temple of Solomon was officially dedicated to the LORD, fire came down from heaven and the temple was once again filled with His glory. The people bowed down and worshipped, singing this same song (2 Chronicles 7).
• This same praise, sung by the worship team as they went before the armies of Judah, released a mighty work of God which threw the three opposing armies into such confusion that they killed each other instead of God’s people (2 Chronicles 20).

Let’s take a closer look at the dynamics of this premier song of praise and thanksgiving.

Give thanks to the LORD. Behind the words “give thanks” is the Hebrew verb yada, which literally means to extend one’s hand to cast or shoot. It is also used as an act of worship, lifting up one’s hand in grateful acknowledgement. (This gives new meaning to the once popular catchphrase, “Yada, yada, yada.” But put the accent on the second syllable.)

Thanks and praise belong uniquely to the LORD. Notice that this name is all in capital letters. This signifies that behind it lies the Hebrew Yahweh, the personal name by which God reveals Himself in covenant with His people. Whenever you find this name, a powerful manifestation of God’s covenant promise is not far away.

For He is good. God is uniquely good in and of Himself. There is no other like Him. All other goodness derives from His goodness. Nor is there any lack of goodness in Him; He is completely and utterly good. The glory of God is the manifestation of His goodness. That is why, when God’s people gratefully acknowledge Him and praise Him for His goodness, His glory shows up.

His love endures forever. The Hebrew word for “love” is hesed, also translated as “mercy” or “lovingkindness.” It, too, is a word with deep covenant significance, for it reveals the steadfast love by which God has committed Himself to always love and take care of His people. Whenever we find these two words together, Yahweh and hesed, we can know that the people of God are about to experience a great manifestation of His love and mercy.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.” Taking it all together we discover that the act of giving thanks to God becomes a revelation of His amazing grace and steadfast love. Meditate on the revelation of God’s love in the following passages and let it “prime the pump” of praise in your heart. As you do, understand that the Greek word for “love” in these Scriptures is agape, the New Testament counterpart to the Old Testament hesed.

For God so loved the world that He gave us His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:16-17)

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)

In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. (1 John 4:9)

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My Word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.” (John 14:23)

For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. (Ephesians 3:14-21)

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us. He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written:

     “For Your sake we are killed all day long;
      We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.”

Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angel nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us form the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:31-39)

The Revelation of God’s Love

 

• The love of God is revealed to us in the gift of His Son. Jesus did not come to condemn us, but so we could have eternal life in fellowship with the Father. Even when we were sinners, Christ died for us that we might live through Him.
• The love of God is revealed in His Word. As we believe and obey this revelation of love, God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — is very much at home in our hearts.
• The love of God is revealed as the Holy Spirit strengthens us in our inner man so that Christ dwells in our hearts by faith.
• The love of God is revealed as we become rooted and grounded in His love, through continuing faith in Christ. In this way, we are able to know and comprehend the love of Christ in all its dimensions. It is beyond what we can know in the natural, but the Spirit of God freely reveals it to all His people.
• The love of God is revealed as we are filled with all the fullness of God through faith in Christ. Because God is love, His fullness is all about love.
• The love of God is revealed by His mighty power at work in us so that He may do in us far above and beyond all that we can ask or even imagine.
• The love of God is revealed by His great glory — the manifestation of His goodness — in all His people, now and forever.
• The love of God is revealed in that He is for us, not against us.
• The love of God is revealed in that He did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for our sake — therefore He freely gives us all things.
• The love of God is revealed in that there is no one who can bring any charge against us that will stick, for God is the one who justifies us. There is no one who can condemn us, for it is Christ who died for us, rose from the dead for us, sits at the right hand of the Father and intercedes on our behalf.
• The love of God is revealed in that there is nothing — no trouble, persecution, or affliction of any kind — that can ever separate us from the love of Christ.
• The love of God is revealed in that we are more than conquerors through Christ.
• The love of God is revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom neither angels nor demons, nor anything created in heaven or earth, in the past, present of future, can ever pull us apart from the steadfast, covenant love by which the Father has committed Himself to us forever.

Let us therefore always give thanks to the LORD, that His great love and mercy might be revealed to the generations. As we cast our extravagant praise upon Him, His glory will manifest in power and goodness to confuse His enemies and overwhelm the nations with His love.  

Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good. His love endures forever!

© 2005 by Jeff Doles.
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