Show gratitude to God!

Bringing the Ark of the Covenant to the city of David was motive of a great celebration. There was a feast of worship with resounding music of trumpets, loud-sounding cymbals, harps, and lyres.

At the trumpets were Benaiah and Jahaziel; Asaph played the cymbals; and playing the harps and lyres: Semiramot, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel.

Full of joy, David, the king, danced on that day.

They placed the Ark on the tent David had pitched for it, they offered holocausts, and peace offerings. The people enjoyed the food provided by the king: bread, meat, and dessert.

Thru Asaph and his relatives, the people expressed their gratitude to God. Portions of three psalms, 105, 96,and 106, were compiled into this song of gratitude.

Read 1 Chr 16:8-15

This time of crisis has given us plenty reasons to express our gratitude to God. We can do it in the same ways this song states it. How?

Give thanks to Him.

“Oh give thanks to the Lord,” 8

As how been expressed in song,

“Give thanks with a grateful heart Give thanks to the Holy One Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son.

Verse 8 commands us to give thanks to God in two ways. One by calling upon His name.

Proclaiming His name.

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name”

Although the Heb. verb “qará” has been translated as “call upon” (invoke), we must know that “proclaim and announce” are two other meanings of it.

We have been entrusted with message, we are God’s heralds and, as such, we must sound the trumpets and announce the King and what He says. If we are thankful, how can we not proclaim his name and message?

We glorify Him when we proclaim His name and announce His mercies, when we tell others that He is the only God, the Almighty, the Provider, the Healer, and the Savior.

Proclaiming the gospel, we proclaim His name!

Telling others what He has done.

“Oh give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; make know His deeds among the peoples.” 8

♪“And now let the weak say, "I am strong" Let the poor say, "I am rich Because of what the Lord has done for us"♪

A thankful heart cannot be quiet! Other need to hear about God and His goodness.

He has protected our church family; none of the members has gotten the virus.

Let’s tell them who has sustained us all the time!

We must tell others how the Lord has provided for us despite losing our jobs or working reduced hours.

He knows are needs and fulfill them even before we ask Him!

Let’s tell them how He has given us more than we needed.

Illust. Need for pineapples...

Are you the kind of person that receives favors or blessings from someone and never tell who blessed you?

Another way of showing gratitude to God:

Sing praises to Him.

“Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; speak of all His wonders.” 9

For most people, singing has a therapeutic effect. In Spanish there is saying, “quien canta, su mal espanta” (“who sings his evil scares”).

How much more therapeutic can be if we sing to the only who has defeated evil: God?

There are two key words on this verse: 1- Shiru: sing (referring to act of singing); and 2- zamar: make music in praise of God.

Sing and make music that praises God. How can we do that?

Meditating on His wonderful acts.

Although the translation says “speak”, a literal meaning is “meditate, muse, speak”

In other words, “Sing songs that are inspired in God’s wonderful acts and speak of them.”

Not all christian music of our days exalt God as it should. Some songs express what we do or want to do for Him, other songs what we want from Him.

The subject of our singing must be God. It is Him whom we must exalt!

Let’s sing about His miracles, about His attributes (power, holiness, love, mercy, justice, salvation).

Shouting in His name.

10 hitehallelu beshem qadosh (imperative,second person plural)

Many sing praises to God in a very low voice. Are they ashamed?

A literal translation of this portion is: “Shout loudly in His holy name”.

As I have explained before “halal” (from where we get the word hallelujah) means “shout in joy” “praise loudly”

The following song expresses what I am trying to explain:

♪ I raise a hallelujah, in the presence of my enemies

I raise a hallelujah, louder than the unbelief

I raise a hallelujah, my weapon is a melody

I raise a hallelujah, Heaven comes to fight for me

Chorus

I’m gonna sing, in the middle of the storm

Louder and louder, you’re gonna hear my praises roar

Up from the ashes, hope will arise

Death is defeated, the King is alive

Verse 2

I raise a hallelujah, with everything inside of me

I raise a hallelujah, I will watch the darkness flee

I raise a hallelujah, in the middle of the mystery

I raise a hallelujah, fear you lost your hold on me

Bridge

Sing a little louder In the presence of my enemies

Sing a little louder, louder than the unbelief

Sing a little louder, my weapon is a melody

Sing a little louder, Heaven comes to fight for me. ♪

If you have gratitude for Him, seek Him every day

Seek Him every day.

Busyness and the routine makes us forget the One who loves us. We seek other things, but not Him.

We show gratitude to Him when we seek His face.

Seeking His face.

“Seek His face continually.” 11b

The Bible reveals God’s face to us; coming to the Word helps us to know Him more. We listen to His voice when we read His Word.

The verse says, “continually”… When you are in love with someone, you want to see that person every day, not once a week or once a month.

When you seek other things first, you’re telling God that knowing Him, seeking His face is not so important to you as other things.

Is that what you call gratitude?

Seeking His strength.

“Seek the Lord and His strength;” 11a

It is only in Him that the weak can say, “I am strong!”

If you depend on your power or strength, you will fail and break!

The apostle Paul knew it by experience, that why he told his spiritual son:

2 Timothy 2:1 NASB95

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

And to his spiritual children in Ephesus, he wrote:

Ephesians 6:10 NASB95

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.

Lastly, another way of showing gratitude is not forgetting who He is:

Do not forget that He is God.

“He is the Lord our God;” 14b

We are not dealing with an idol made of wood or metal; we’re dealing with the Creator. He is our God!

Therefore, if He is your God,

Do not forget what He’s done.

“Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done, His marvels and the judgments from His mouth.” 12

He who forgets favors received is ungrateful!

Most people are like that! They forget all the good things you do for them, but will never forget the one you did not do!

God has done many miracles in your life, He has saved you, and bless you abundantly. Do not ever forget those things! Show gratitude!

Do you know why it is hard for some to give tithes and offerings to God? Because they are ungrateful! They forget what God does for them!

Remember that He is your Lord.

“He is the Lord...” 14a

He is Adonai, our Creator and owner.

Remember that you were not only made by Him, but also the one who redeemed you or bought you out of the market of slaves. You were a slave of Satan and sin, but Jesus paid the ransom with His own blood.

We belong to Him! He is our owner and “mandamás”, the one with all authority over you. It is interesting that the Greek version translates the Tetragramaton (yhvh) as “kurios” (the lawful owner of a slave and has authority over the slave).

We must show gratitude to Him for paying our price, for becoming our Master, for giving us freedom from sin and eternal death.

Do not forget His commandments.

“Remember His covenant forever, the word which He commanded to a thousand generations,” 15

The covenant between God and Israel was: on God’s side: I will be your God; and, on Israel’s side: we will obey whatever you command us.

All slaves must show obedience to their master. But can they obey if they forget what the Master has commanded them?

Not forgetting His commandments means obeying those commandments. Some remember what the commandments say, but they do not obey them.

Obedience is the highest form of adoration and the highest form of gratitude.