Is Your Thanksgiving an Offering of Great Praise to God?

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How to Avoid Offering the Same Old Sacrifice

As we are approaching the holiday season of 2020, many Americans are turning their attention to Thanksgiving. In addition to preparing for traditional Thanksgiving celebrations, and altering them as we determine appropriate in the midst of this COVID-19 pandemic, I am turning my thoughts to the quality of my thanksgiving to God.

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Psalm 145:3 tells us the Lord is great and greatly to be praised. Yet in years past I often found myself feeling like my praise falls short of that. I started using biblical terminology, repeating phrases found in scripture that describe Him. “You are great and greatly to be praised!” (Psalm 145:3.) “You are Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6.) “You are full of compassion and plenteous in mercy.” (Psalm 86:15.) Although I find great value in praying scripture, praising through scripture seemed to lead me down a road of repetitive praises, and frustration.

I began praying about the matter. One day Hebrews 10:1 stood out to me. It explains how the Law could never, “by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year” (Hebrews 10:1, NIV) make the people perfect. Although the verse refers to the insufficiency of the sacrifices to forgive sin, I focused on the idea of the same old sacrifices being offered repeatedly.

Hebrews 13:15 tells us to offer our sacrifice of praise, praising God continually, giving thanks to Him. So, I began asking God, “Lord, how do I prevent my sacrifice of praise from becoming repetitive, like the insufficient sacrifices offered year after year?” Soon I found the secret in Psalm 107.

Below I will share four circumstances described in Psalm 107, which contains examples of praising God in each circumstance. By praising God accordingly, we can be confident that we are offering Him the great praise He is worthy of.

After considering the circumstances the Psalmist describes and whether we sometimes find ourselves in similar circumstances, we will examine what God did in each of the circumstances and how the people responded. We will conclude with looking at how, no matter what our circumstances, we can greatly praise God with thanksgiving that is not repetitive, avoiding the offering of the same old sacrifices day after day, year after year.

CIRCUMSTANCES DESCRIBED IN PSALMS 107

1. Wanderers in the Desert – Purposelessness

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Verses 3 through 7 describe people who wandered in the desert. It may apply to Israel’s wandering in the desert or to the Exile. In either case, the wanderers experienced a life of purposelessness because there was no city for protection and their supplies of food and water were readily depleted, except that God provided for them after they came to a place of crying out to Him.

Do we go through times of purposelessness, of aimless wandering through life?  What comes to my mind, without intending any offence, are many high school graduates in recent years. I have spoken to many of them or their parents and have heard about how they don’t know what to do next. They don’t know what they want to do with their lives. They don’t know if they want to go to college because they don’t want to go into debt. So, they tend to wander about with no real direction in life until something inspires them, or forces them, to start pursuing either education or a job.

Feelings of purposelessness fall on other people as well. Often when an extreme life change occurs, such as job loss, divorce, death of a loved one. And when we feel purposeless, we also feel unprotected, without provision of our basic needs, just as the people described in verses 3 through 7 experienced.

2. Prisoners, People Held Captive – Rebellion

Verses 10 through 16 describe people who were in prison or held captive. These verses refer to darkness, the shadow of death, and irons. These all connote despair, depravation of rights, and the judgment of God. These people experienced such despair because they rebelled against God. Per verse 11, “They had rebelled against the word of God and spurned His counsel.”

Do we go through times of intentional breach of faith with God that results in despair, depravation of rights, God’s judgment? I can remember my own life soon after I graduated from high school. I made some bad decisions that lead me down a path that clearly was not God’s will for my life. I knew that God would not be pleased with my decisions when I made them because my decisions were not consistent with His Word. Yet I intentionally did things that weren’t pleasing to God. I intentionally breached faith with God and rebelled against His Word, disrespecting His counsel. And this path led me down roads I didn’t want to go, roads of despair. I became captive to feelings of guilt and shame. I couldn’t break free of those feelings on my own. I am confident I am not the only person who has experienced these things because I have spoken to many people who have become bound by the chains of guilt and shame due to intentional decisions they made that were inconsistent with God’s Word.

3. Sick People – Results of Own Behavior

Verses 17 – 21 tell us about people the psalmist calls fools. These people also intentionally breached faith with God. They were rebellious. They went astray because of their love for doing wrong. Their own behavior caused them to become sick.

Are there things in our lives that we choose to do that can lead to sickness? Yes. When we don’t properly care for our bodies, which are the temple of the Holy Ghost, we can become ill. Some examples are sexually transmitted diseases resulting from promiscuity, lung cancer caused by tobacco use, diabetes and heart disease caused by unhealthy life habits. These are things that plague our society.

4. Sailors on the Sea –Experiences Beyond Their Control

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Verses 23 – 32 describe merchants crossing the sea in search of fortunes. They witnessed the marvels of God’s creation at sea. The men had done nothing intentionally rebellious or sinful. Merely by God’s creation, they encountered experiences beyond their control. The waves tossed them about. They tried to hold onto something solid but were tossed about like drunken men. Their skills at navigation were ineffective. They became desperate in their lack of control.

Do we go through times when we are out of control and become desperate? Yes. Examples include job loss, relationships, illness and disease that are not caused by our own lifestyle and habits.

THE PEOPLE’S RESPONSE AND GOD’S ACTIONS

In each of the circumstances, the people cried out to God. And God responded!

1. Wanderers in the Desert – Purposelessness: He delivered them from out of their distresses. He lead them to a city to build a purposeful life. He satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with good.
2. Prisoners, People Held Captive –Rebellion: He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and broke the bonds that held them captive.
3. Sick People –Results of Behavior: He sent forth His Word and healed them. He healed them with the very Word that they rebelled against. He rescued them from the pit and destruction.
4. Sailors on the Sea –Experiences Beyond Their Control: He calmed the storms, the parts of his creation that caused the men to be unable to control the situation.

In every circumstance, the people recognized their source of help is the Lord and cried out to Him. He was faithful and delivered them regardless of anything the people had or had not done to cause the circumstances. And then, the point of this lesson, the people praised God by thanking Him for the specific things He had done. They didn’t just use general terms of praise, such as “I thank you for your goodness, for your loving-kindness, for your wonderful works.” They thanked Him for the specific things He had done in their lives.

What should we do when we feel purposeless, like we are wandering aimlessly through life? When we have intentionally walked away from God? When we have been rebellious in ways that have caused sickness? When we are out of control for no fault of our own?

In all of these circumstances, even in every challenging situation in our lives, we first cry out to God. He will provide.

Then praise Him for His specific acts of goodness and loving-kindness, His wonderful works. Specifically name the good things He did for you to bring you out of the situation, giving you a purpose and direction, breaking the chains of guilt and shame caused by intentional rebellion, healing the illness that resulted from your own lifestyle decisions, and taking control of the things in life that are totally out of your control.

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We also need to go one step further. Note the people’s reaction when God took control. Verse 32 states, “Let them exalt Him also in the congregation of the people and praise Him in the company of the elders.” We need to praise God publicly, sharing our testimonies, bragging on Him for His goodness, building the faith of other people!

CONCLUSION

As I stated at the introduction, my purpose here is to help us avoid repeating the same words of praise year after year in order to be confident that we are offering great praise that God is worthy of. Although God receives all of our praise, He deserves more than acknowledgment of who He is according to Scripture. He also deserves specific thanks and praise for what He has done, is doing, and will do in our lives.

God does not do the same things in each of our lives. Each of us have different experiences in life. Therefore, our praise and thanksgiving should be different. My praise should be different then your praise. Although all of us can recite that He is our Lord, our strength, our refuge, King of kings, etc., when we get to the specifics of how He has demonstrated His lordship, strength, protection, and majesty in our lives, then we are able to praise Him afresh every day.

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Lamentations 3:22-24 tells us that God’s mercies and compassions are new every morning. They are manifested uniquely for each of us every day. Therefore, our sacrifices of praise should be just as fresh every day. And they can be when we take our praises and thanksgiving to very specific levels, thanking Him and praising Him for the specific mercies and compassions that He has manifested in our lives anew that day.

According to Psalms 107:22, as we praise Him with thanksgiving for the specific things He has done, we are to do so with shouts of joy and singing! Per the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, “Thanksgiving is not an empty platitude but consists of a concrete expression of loyalty to the Lord by the giving of ‘thank offerings,’ accompanied by ‘songs of joy.’” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Abridged Edition, Psalms 107:22, https://books.google.co.cr/books?id=WJGUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT1206&lpg=PT1206&dq=empty+platitude+but+consists&source=bl&ots=Ug8ppOw7k0&sig=ACfU3U0gdFEEGZqgrKnLQO5oxyJ7cDGMpA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiF8tjJo-3oAhVET98KHV7EBTEQ6AEwAHoECA0QJw#v=onepage&q=empty%20platitude%20but%20consists&f=false, last accessed Nov. 9, 2020.)

We can now be confident that we can offer great praises to God by following the examples set forth in Psalm 107. Offer to God fresh and new praises for the specific things He has done for you each day.