Thanksgiving Psalm
by John Fischer


Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth!
Worship the Lord with gladness.
Come before Him, singing with joy.
Acknowledge that the Lord is God!
He made us, and we are His.
We are His people, the sheep of His pasture.
Enter His gates with Thanksgiving;
Go into His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
For the Lord is good.
His unfailing love continues forever,
And His faithfulness continues to each generation.

- Psalm 100

It’s really pretty simple.

He is God; we are not. He made us and so we belong to Him. We don’t really experience our own fulfillment until we are in a position to praise Him and offer Him thanks. Any other posture is arrogance and sheer folly, not because He is unkind or lording it over us, but because He is who He is, and we are who we are. We don’t get the point of our existence until we get this.

Whether you are in prison or in a mansion, alone or with family and friends – whether you are poor or rich, at war or at peace – this is true about you and it is true about me. This is not constraint. It is not praise on demand. It is sensible and true, the holy and right thing to do.

We were made for this – for the giving of thanks and the whole-hearted acknowledging of our Creator. We will do this forever. We are never really happy until we are doing this. This is not just one day out of the year to give thanks. It is our way of life every day – our lifeline with sanity, our tie to the real reason we are alive.

So while a country stops and gives thanks over an abundance of food, give thanks, not only because it is Thanksgiving Day, but because it is the right thing to do – the only thing to do.