Learning Thanksgiving

Introduction:

Under normal circumstances, we have our Thanksgiving service on Tuesday night, Thanksgiving week.

We will not have service this week, it is canceled.

So, I thought we should contemplate this topic this morning.

David’s Psalms often teach lessons about proper attitude, purpose of life, and plentiful theology.

Psalm 30, although we do not have a precise context, provides an opportunity to think about God’s nature.

God wants obedience rather than sacrifice.

He wants us to glorify Him more than sacrifice to Him.

To serve Him calls us to to understand Him.

We can see how this Psalm was used or when it came to be used.

The dedication of either David’s house or the Temple.

Note the structure: two praise sections couching a confession and David’s joy.

Thanksgiving Defined

Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Hebrew (Old Testament) 3344 II. יָדָה

3344 II. יָדָה (yā·ḏā(h)): v.; ≡ Str 3034; TWOT 847—1. LN 33.354–33.364 (hif) express praise, extol, i.e., make a public confession of the attributes and acts of power of a person (

David uses the Hebrew word for “thanks” or “thanksgiving” in Ps. 30:4.

As we can hear from the above definition, thanks or thanksgiving calls for the public confession and acknowledgement of God’s attributes.

It is not about material objects but calls for a mature knowledge of God through a deep understanding of His person.

This is not natural to fallen human beings (see Ro. 1).

What Attributes Does God Have in Ps. 30?

David asserts that he will “exalt” God because God has “drawn him up.”

The terminology comes from the practice of “drawing up” water from a well.

God acted on David’s behalf to prevent His enemies from rejoicing over him.

He, evidently, experienced some illness from which God healed him.

He was close to death.

He called upon the Lord for help.

The Lord, then, restored him to life.

God’s person is holy. (Ps. 30:4-5).

David calls upon the holy ones to engage in singing praises to Yahweh.

He calls upon them to acknowledge the virtues and character of “the memorial of his holiness.”

He is brief in His anger but long in His pleasure.

He may bring punishment, but it will be temporary while the joy He brings is long-lasting and permanent.

Sorrow becomes joy.

God’s person calls us to humility.

David, apparently, over time became plagued by overconfidence.

Ps. 30:6 expresses a positive trait: he was determined not to allow prosperity to corrupt his relationship and commitment to Yahweh.

It was through the Lord’s favor that David’s rule and dynasty had become established and secured.

However, the Lord also hid His face causing David to become dismayed by the situation.

Ps. 30:8-9 may outline what happened.

David became too overconfident, perhaps.

He found himself calling upon the Lord for help.

David pondered: what gain might there be in his death. (Could this be the problem, or could this be a reflection of the question the situation made him ponder?)

David gives the right attributes (Ps. 30:9) although the context is difficult.

The Lord his worthy of praise.

He is loyal and trustworthy.

He is merciful.

The Lord clothed him with gladness because He turned David’s sorrow to joy.

David repented and recovered from his mourning.

The Lord had restored him to life, and David relaized that was so he could use his “glory” for the praise of God.

Hence, he ends the Psalm asserting his intention to extol the attributes of Yahweh forever.

Introduction Part 2:

Over the years, together, we have learned the basic importance of giving thanks to God.

Romans 1 makes it very clear that, in The Fall, human beings are not thankful to God for his existence or for His creation of us and the world that sustains us.

Colossians 3:15 shows that “coming to be thankful ones” is a characteristic of the “new man” in Christ. As believers, then, it should be an identifiable trait observable by others that marks us as true believers. Gratitude, rather than bitterness, impatience, and a lack of forgiveness, should be observable in our lives.

Thanksgiving in All Situations

It is easy to be thankful when things are going well.

We like to “count our blessings.”

Notice how this one, too, is the opposite of being filled with anger and resentment.

It is natural to our fallen state not to be thankful to God for his person (see Ro. 1).

Thanksgiving is a spiritual virtue that comes from knowing God through Christ as savior and through the work of God’s spirit.

Consider the incongruence between the Thessalonians’ situation and this, as well as the other, commands.

Paul cannot be asking for a thanksgiving for what they have, but for continual thanks to God in spite of what they have.

This is the opposite of embittered resentfulness.

Colossians 1:9–12 :“Διὰ τοῦτο καὶ ἡμεῖς, ἀφʼ ἧς ἡμέρας ἠκούσαμεν, οὐ παυόμεθα ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν προσευχόμενοι καὶ αἰτούμενοι, ἵνα πληρωθῆτε τὴν ἐπίγνωσιν τοῦ θελήματος αὐτοῦ ἐν πάσῃ σοφίᾳ καὶ συνέσει πνευματικῇ, περιπατῆσαι ἀξίως τοῦ κυρίου εἰς πᾶσαν ἀρεσκείαν, ἐν παντὶ ἔργῳ ἀγαθῷ καρποφοροῦντες καὶ αὐξανόμενοι τῇ ἐπιγνώσει τοῦ θεοῦ, ἐν πάσῃ δυνάμει δυναμούμενοι κατὰ τὸ κράτος τῆς δόξης αὐτοῦ εἰς πᾶσαν ὑπομονὴν καὶ μακροθυμίαν. Μετὰ χαρᾶς εὐχαριστοῦντες τῷ πατρὶ τῷ ἱκανώσαντι ὑμᾶς εἰς τὴν μερίδα τοῦ κλήρου τῶν ἁγίων ἐν τῷ φωτί·”