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Psalm 136 (Evangelical Heritage Version
Give Thanks to the Lord
The text for our consideration for Thanksgiving Eve is Psalm 136.
The way the Psalm was written suggests that it was designed for responsive singing in Temple worship.
With that in mind, I’ll ask you to read the parts of the Psalm responsively with me as we come to each section.
We start with the introduction of the Psalm: verses 1-3.
Please read responsively with me.
Psalm 136:1-3
Introduction
1Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
For his mercy endures forever.
2Give thanks to the God of Gods.
For his mercy endures forever.
3Give thanks to the Lord of Lords.
For his mercy endures forever.
Thanksgiving.
Across our nation people stop to give thanks.
Lots of people are thankful.
Business people are thankful for profits.
Wives and husbands are thankful for a happy and secure home.
Children are thankful for parents who love them.
It’s certainly good to give thanks for those things.
God provides for us every day.
In his explanation to the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed, Luther says that God preserves us “by richly and daily providing... all I need to keep my body and life.”
Each day we are alive, God does many things for us.
God planned all those blessings long in advance of today—long in advance of the day any of us were born.
Let’s read the next part of the Psalm.
Psalm 136:4-9
His Creating Love
4To him who alone does great wonders—
For his mercy endures forever.
5To him who by his understanding made the heavens—
For his mercy endures forever.
6To him who spread out the earth on the waters—
For his mercy endures forever.
7To him who made the great lights,
For his mercy endures forever.
8the sun to rule by day,
For his mercy endures forever.
9the moon and stars to rule by night—
For his mercy endures forever.
By using this Psalm in their temple worship, the people were remembering the great things God had done for them by creating this magnificent planet and setting the universe into motion.
To this day, and to the very end of time, human beings will continue to learn more and more about the universe.
Those who understand by faith that God created all of it will marvel at each new discovery, realizing anew how wise and powerful our God is—a God who could foresee every conceivable intricacy and why it was necessary.
A God who has given us so many and so varied blessings with the world he created for us to enjoy.
Join me in reading the next section.
Psalm 136:10-22
His Redeeming Love
10To him who struck Egypt by killing their firstborn,
For his mercy endures forever.
11and brought Israel out from their midst,
For his mercy endures forever.
12with a mighty hand and outstretched arm—
For his mercy endures forever.
13To him who cut the Red Sea in two,
For his mercy endures forever.
14and brought Israel through the middle of it,
For his mercy endures forever.
15but brushed off Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea—
For his mercy endures forever.
16To him who made his people travel through the wilderness—
For his mercy endures forever.
17To him who struck down great kings,
For his mercy endures forever.
18and killed mighty kings,
For his mercy endures forever.
19Sihon king of the Amorites,
For his mercy endures forever.
20and Og king of Bashan,
For his mercy endures forever.
21and gave their land as a possession,
For his mercy endures forever.
22a possession to his servant Israel.
For his mercy endures forever.
God displayed his redeeming love to Israel.
He redeemed them—he bought them back— from the slavery they endured in the land of Egypt.
He preserved their nation alive until he finally brought them to the land that he had promised to give to Abraham’s descendants.
But there is something even more important.
God’s promise to Abraham included more than a land to live in, it included the fact that God would send a Savior through the line of Abraham.
The Psalm remembers that in God’s redeeming love he kept the line of the Savior alive.
The Bible tells us “God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16, EHV).
God’s love for us and the sacrifice he made for us of his only-begotten Son, Jesus, is priceless.
God was not obligated to provide a way of salvation for human beings.
No one forced him to send his Son.
God did it because he loved us.
From the beginning of the world, God knew that on this day each one of us would meet here at this church to have a Thanksgiving service.
He knew that, unless he sent a Savior into the world, every single one of us would be doomed to eternal death in hell.
Long before we were born God thought of us.
Long before we were born, God took pity on us.
In his mercy, when the time was right, God sent a Savior for us.
A few shepherds were the first to hear all about it.
An angel appeared to them and said: “Do not be afraid.
For behold, I bring you good news of great joy, which will be for all people” (Luke 2:10, EHV).
And so it is.
The good news for all people was that God, in his Redeeming Love, was beginning the final chapter in the history of his saving work for all people.
It would take 33 years to bring to completion.
Jesus grew up on this earth much like children today grow up.
He was thirsty, just like we are.
He got hungry.
He was tempted by Satan, just like we are, but he never once fell into sin the way we do.
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