Being Thankful (2)

1000 Illustrations for Preaching & Teaching Tell God “Thank You”

Tell God “Thank You”

A preacher friend of mine, returning from a tour of Europe where he had visited his clergyman cousin, related this story: A London scrubwoman was taken ill. Friends sent her to the hospital. During her convalescence she visited along the corridor. She developed a fondness for a twelve-year-old, freckle-faced, red-haired boy in the room across from hers. They visited daily.

Early one morning she was awakened by confusion and conversation. Presently, the boy’s mother, brokenhearted, ventured into the charwoman’s room, exclaiming, “Doctors say Johnny has only ten minutes to live. Won’t you say something to him?”

With the courage and conviction of a great Christian, the charwoman walked calmly into Johnny’s room, sat on his bed, took his thin hands between her calloused palms, and said, “Listen, Johnny, God made you. God loves you. God sent His Son to save you. God wants you to come home with Him.”

With great difficulty, the lad raised up on his elbows and entreated his friend, “Say it again.”

Softly she repeated, “God made you. God loves you. God sent His Son to save you. God wants you to come home with Him.”

Johnny looked into her benign face and said, “Tell God, ‘Thank You!’ ”

To many times we get caught up in the things in our lives that are not going right, the problems, or the situations that we cant control and we start to lose sight of how truly blessed we are.

A Call To Praise (v4)

This is a call for all people to enter the the gates of heaven with thanksgiving.

In the Mosaic law, foreigners were usually excluded from the temple courts, but in Psalm 100 the whole earth is invited to enter the gates of the Lord.

We as Christians are called to praise the Lord and to Give Him Thanks for all that Hes done.

This may seem hard sometimes but when you reflect on your like and take stock of all the things He as brought you through and the blessings that you have then you cant help but not be thankful.

Cause For Praise (v5)

The people of the whole earth are prompted to praise the Lord because he is good.

God’s “Goodness is of the very essence of God’s nature, and his acts of grace are not the product of a momentary friendly whim or manifestations of the arbitrary mood of a divine despot.”

The Lord memorably defined his goodness to Moses in Exod 34:6–7

Exodus 34:6–7 ESV

The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

But his goodness is not limited to Israel alone, for it is extended to all humans.

His (“faithful love”) is not limited by time, but it endures forever.

His (“faithfulness”) is not for the present alone, but it continues to all generations.

Because the Lord’s character is good, he will always be loving and faithful.

Because his goodness never ceases, there will always be ample reason for humans to praise him.

As the nations respond to the invitation to praise the Lord in this psalm, they enter into the joy of covenant with him.