Thank You (For the Things That I Never Thanked You For)

Chorus:
THANK YOU FOR THE THINGS
THAT I NEVER THANKED YOU FOR
YOU’VE GIVEN EVERYTHING I NEED
AND STILL I ASKED FOR MORE
IT’S NOT THAT I’M UNGRATEFUL
I’M JUST FORGETFUL LORD
SO I THANK YOU FOR THE THINGS
THAT I’VE NEVER THANKED YOU FOR

THERE ARE SO MANY BLESSINGS
THAT YOU HAVE GIVEN ME
THINGS I TAKE FOR GRANTED EVERYDAY
THE BEAUTY OF CREATION
AND THE PROMISE OF SALVATION
LORD HELP ME TO REMEMBER WHEN I PRAY

THANK YOU FOR THE THINGS
THAT I NEVER THANKED YOU FOR
YOU’VE GIVEN EVERYTHING I NEED
AND STILL I ASKED FOR MORE
IT’S NOT THAT I’M UNGRATEFUL
I’M JUST FORGETFUL LORD
SO I THANK YOU FOR THE THINGS
THAT I’VE NEVER THANKED YOU FOR

NOW WHEN MY WAY GROWS WEARY
AND REST IS HARD TO FIND
AND SOMETIMES I CAN’T SEE MY WAY THROUGH
AND WHEN IT SEEMS THAT I AM BLINDED
THAT’S WHEN I NEED TO BE REMINDED
THAT THE STRENGTH I THOUGHT WAS MINE
IT CAME FROM YOU

I was recently listening to an old CD by the Issac’s and was reminded of this song, and felt that it was so appropriate for today.  If you have never heard this song before, here’s a link:

Thanksgiving is an interesting time of the year.  When we hear the word “Thanksgiving,” certain mental pictures may immediately come to mind.  Fall colors.  Leaves falling.  Turkey and Dressing.  John Madden’s Turkey leg after a Dallas Cowboy victory.  Maybe Pilgrims and Indians and the founding of our country.  But the idea of Thanksgiving (or Giving Thanks) is a concept straight from the pages of Scripture.  It is not a holiday invented by Walmart, Hallmark, or Hobby Lobby.  It is not a holiday that the pumpkin pie makers or Honey Baked Ham invented.  It is a concept that comes directly from the Bible.  So I want to share with you a couple of thoughts from this song and from Scripture on the eve of Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving Freewill Offering – The first mention of the word “Thanksgiving” in the Bible is found in Leviticus chapter 7 and it has to do with a Thanksgiving offering.  Moses gives some specific instructions regarding offering a thanksgiving offering to the Lord.  What I found interesting is found later on in Leviticus Chapter 22.  Moses writes “And when ye will offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving unto the Lord, offer it at your own will.”  Isn’t that interesting?  The thanksgiving offering is not a regimented, ritualistic, offering that is required whether you like it or not.  But it is an offering of the free will.  An offering that comes from the heart.  It is not an “arm-twisting” kind of thank you.  The “Tell Grandma thank you for the gift that you don’t appreciate” that you do with your kids.  It is a freewill outpouring of gratitude for all that the Lord has done for you.  A true thanksgiving offering.

Thanksgiving Command – And yet even though our thanksgiving ought to come from our own free will, there are Scriptures in the Bible that command us to give thanks as well:

I Chron 16:8 – Give thanks unto the Lord, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

Psalm 30:4 – Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Psalm 106:1 – Praise ye the Lord. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.

So there is an understanding that giving thanks is something we are commanded to do, and something that we should want to do.  Like praise, it is something we are commanded to do.  Psalms over and over says “Praise the Lord.”  But thanksgiving is something that we should want to do as well.  These Scriptures do not contradict one another, but are reminders of the kind of thankful mindset that we ought to have from a changed heart, but that also comes from a disciplined mind that has been transformed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

“Thank you for things that that I’ve never thanked you for” – The line in this song is rather interesting.  Do you have things in your life that you have or that you have experienced that you’ve never thanked God for?  I believe there are many blessings that we unfortunately take for granted every day.  Simple things like the ability to breathe are easily forgotten, until you have pneumonia and can’t catch your breathe.  But what about negative things in our life?  Have we given God thanks for even those things?  I think it is just as easy for us to not recognize the blessings in the midst of trouble and tribulation as it is to be forgetful about the simple blessings we have every day.  This song reminds me that there are times when I need to pause and say “Thank you, Lord.”  For blessings, for family, for freedom, for church, and for the Word.  But to also recognize that I can be thankful for many of the outwardly “negative” things in life because God is using all those things to work together for my good.

In the last days, the Apostle Paul says something very interesting about the culture.  In 2 Timothy 3, he writes “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,  Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”  In a lot of ways, this passage reminds me of America in 2014.  But did you catch the word “unthankful?”  In the midst of a list of lots of wicked actions, the Apostle Paul includes those that are unthankful.  Those that are ungrateful.  He compares the unthankful to blasphemers and traitors.  I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to me in that camp.

So can I encourage you to give thanks today, tomorrow, next week, next month, and next year?  Can I encourage you to live a life that others would say about you “There’s a thankful person.”  A person that has a thankful heart, a thankful spirit, and someone who gives thanks in all things.