If you said the fourth Thursday in November, you would be right…and wrong. The secular world celebrates Thanksgiving and all the fixings—turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie—on one day. The writer of Psalm 107 acknowledges giving thanks—yadah—with eternity in view.
Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting. Psalm 107: 1
The Hebrew word for everlasting is olam. The essential meaning is: always, continual, permanent, perpetual—in a word—daily. Every day is “Thanksgiving Day”. There is nothing wrong with a single, special day of celebration of food, family and thanksgiving. In fact, the focus of food at Thanksgiving is a helpful image to move us to a daily celebration of thanksgiving. Consider the psalmist’s recipe for a true “giving thanks” thanksgiving, not just for a holiday season, but a lifetime.
First, you need a pinch of pain, a little bit of crisis remembered. Life is always one crisis after another. Psalm 107 is a community thanksgiving psalm. It’s a drama that features the recall of a crisis the people experienced, God’s response, and the community’s call to praise God for his deliverance.
Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. 5 They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. PS 107:4,5
The people experienced homelessness, hunger and life-threatening crisis. We all have had our bad days—no food, no home, no peace. True thanksgiving requires daily moments of reflection: “If it had not been for the Lord on our side, where would we be.” As painful as they might have been, take time, every day, to reflect on past troubles. Go there, but don’t stay there. It helps to put what you are thankful for into perspective.
Second, you need a spoonful of remembrance of God’s respond to your crisis. The psalmist witnessed God’s deliverance by providing a place where their needs were met. Look at verses 2, 6, 7.
2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
6 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.
7 He led them also by a straight way, To go to an inhabited city.
In our crisis times—past and present—God redeems, hears and leads. Take time, every day to reflect on His response to our past troubles, how “They didn’t last always”.
Lastly, true thanksgiving calls for open, spoken community gratitude. Stir in some praise to crisis remembered and God’s response recalled. You can’t be silent. You have to be “Say so”:
Psalm 107:2 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so,
The Psalmist called the community to be grateful for God’s amazing acts toward them. Look at verse 1. The reason why we need to be grateful, to give thanks (yadah) is because God is good (tov). His love is not a “sometimey” love, but a hesed love—a loving kindness that is not contingent on our response to him, but on the unconditional covenant He made with us. Because it is based on God’s faithfulness and not our’s, we have a relationship with God forever. He will always provide us a place to meet our needs—not just any needs, but the essential needs of our essential self—our souls. Verse 9 says that:
“He satisfies the thirsty soul and fills the hungry soul with good things. PS 107:9
There you go—a recipe for true thanksgiving, daily-style: a pinch of pain recalled, a spoonful of deliverance remembered, and stir in some spoken praise. Every day, whip up a batch. And if you’re really full this Thursday, make a commitment to make a regular donation to a community food pantry all year. Bon Appetit.
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