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1 Shout triumphantly to the Lord, all the earth.
2 Serve the Lord with gladness;
come before Him with joyful songs.
3 Acknowledge that Yahweh is God.
He made us, and we are His —
His people, the sheep of His pasture.
4 Enter His gates with thanksgiving
and His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and praise His name.
5 For Yahweh is good, and His love is eternal;
His faithfulness endures through all generations.
Happy thanksgiving. Be sure to worship tomorrow.
Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
2 Let the redeemed of the Lord proclaim
that He has redeemed them from the hand of the foe
3 and has gathered them from the lands—
from the east and the west,
from the north and the south.
4 Some wandered in the desolate wilderness,
finding no way to a city where they could live.
5 They were hungry and thirsty;
their spirits failed within them.
6 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He rescued them from their distress.
7 He led them by the right path
to go to a city where they could live.
8 Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His faithful love
and His wonderful works for all humanity.
9 For He has satisfied the thirsty
and filled the hungry with good things.
10 Others sat in darkness and gloom
prisoners in cruel chains—
11 because they rebelled against God’s commands
and despised the counsel of the Most High.
12 He broke their spirits with hard labor;
they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them from their distress.
14 He brought them out of darkness and gloom
and broke their chains apart.
15 Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His faithful love
and His wonderful works for all humanity.
16 For He has broken down the bronze gates
and cut through the iron bars.
17 Fools suffered affliction
because of their rebellious ways and their sins.
18 They loathed all food
and came near the gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble;
He saved them from their distress.
20 He sent His word and healed them;
He rescued them from the Pit.
21 Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His faithful love
and His wonderful works for all humanity.
22 Let them offer sacrifices of thanksgiving
and announce His works with shouts of joy.
23 Others went to sea in ships,
conducting trade on the vast waters.
24 They saw the Lord’s works,
His wonderful works in the deep.
25 He spoke and raised a tempest
that stirred up the waves of the sea.
26 Rising up to the sky, sinking down to the depths,
their courage melting away in anguish,
27 they reeled and staggered like drunken men,
and all their skill was useless.
28 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
and He brought them out of their distress.
29 He stilled the storm to a murmur,
and the waves of the sea were hushed.
30 They rejoiced when the waves grew quiet.
Then He guided them to the harbor they longed for.
31 Let them give thanks to the Lord
for His faithful love
and His wonderful works for all humanity.
32 Let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people
and praise Him in the council of the elders.
33 He turns rivers into desert,
springs of water into thirsty ground,
34 and fruitful land into salty wasteland,
because of the wickedness of its inhabitants.
35 He turns a desert into a pool of water,
dry land into springs of water.
36 He causes the hungry to settle there,
and they establish a city where they can live.
37 They sow fields and plant vineyards
that yield a fruitful harvest.
38 He blesses them, and they multiply greatly;
He does not let their livestock decrease.
39 When they are diminished and are humbled
by cruel oppression and sorrow,
40 He pours contempt on nobles
and makes them wander in a trackless wasteland.
41 But He lifts the needy out of their suffering
and makes their families multiply like flocks.
42 The upright see it and rejoice,
and all injustice shuts its mouth.
43 Let whoever is wise pay attention to these things
and consider the Lord’s acts of faithful love.
Happy thanksgiving! Be safe.
Then King David went in, sat in the Lord’s presence, and said,Who am I, Lord God,and what is my house that You have brought me this far? What You have done so farwas a little thing to You, Lord God, for You have also spoken about Your servant’s house in the distant future. And this is a revelation for mankind, Lord God.What more can David say to You? You know Your servant, Lord God. Because of Your word and according to Your will, You have revealed all these great things to Your servant. This is why You are great, Lord God. There is no one like You, and there is no God besides You, as all we have heard confirms. And who is like Your people Israel? God came to one nation on earth in order to redeem a people for Himself, to make a name for Himself, and to perform for them great and awesome acts, driving out nations and their gods before Your people You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt. You established Your people Israel to be Your own people forever, and You, Lord, have become their God. Now, Lord God, fulfill the promise forever that You have made to Your servant and his house. Do as You have promised, so that Your name will be exalted forever, when it is said, “The Lord of Hosts is God over Israel.” The house of Your servant David will be established before You since You, Lord of Hosts, God of Israel, have revealed this to Your servant when You said, “I will build a house for you.” Therefore, Your servant has found the courage to pray this prayer to You. Lord God, You are God; Your words are true, and You have promised this grace to Your servant. Now, please bless Your servant’s house so that it will continue before You forever. For You, Lord God, have spoken, and with Your blessing Your servant’s house will be blessed forever.
Excuse me. I've only been studying the Bible, teaching it, and preaching it for the past thirty five years. So, I can't explain it other than it may gave slipped through the memory grid somewhere along the way. But, I don't remember spending one minute laboring over 2 Samuel 7:18-29, David's prayer of thanksgiving. I read it yesterday and it landed on me as if for the first time. David offered this eloquent prayer of thanksgiving without ever using the most frequently used terms translated thanks, thanksgiving, gratitude, thankful, thankfulness, or any of their derivatives.
We know David was no cheap-skate regarding words. He was, in fact, an ancient wordsmith, a master of the written and spoken word. He wasn't a novice in the thanksgiving department either, the author of hundreds of verses speaking the language of thanks. But, he is most known as a man after God's own heart, phrasing that moves his relationship with The Father much deeper than his verbal abilities. This thanksgiving prayer may exemplify that heart more than any other texts.
The prayer of 2 Samuel 7:18-29 is a precise confession of David's theology. And, of course, that's what thanksgiving really is, what we believe about Him. As the Tozer quote above affirms, the most important thing about us is what comes into our minds when we think about God. That's the essence of the prayer of David. He ascribes all things to God, acknowledges His providential rule over all things, the faithfulness of His promises, and the truth of His Word. In tracing the blessings of God on the house of David, and His choice of Israel in history, and the promise of His righteous rule over that house and nation in the future, the King is submitting to God's rulle over all things and His gracious provision of all things.
It's a subtle but profound truth. The use of seasonal catch phrases and terms is not so much an expression of genuine gratitude as is a right view of God. King David, one very acquainted with the liturgical expressions of thanks, went deeper than words in his prayer of thanks. He could have recited any number of litanies of temple praise and Levitical correctness. The musicians and priests could have supplied David with the niceties of Hebrew worship to flower His prayerful approach. But, the man after God's own heart avoided the conventions of the time to just recite His deep personal theology. What more is thanksgiving, anyway, but our acknowledgement of Him.
Years ago someone said we worship Him because of who He is, while we praise and thank Him for what He has done. Hmmm. Not sure that's it. I think we worship, praise, and thank Him for who He is. They're all responses to who He is.
And that may be the most important thing about us, what we think about Him.
Happy thanksgiving!
If life was a stop watch you could control it with a click. You'd be able to edit out the difficult events, people, or moments that trouble us most days, and on thanksgiving. With a stop watch the biblical rules about thanksgiving would be null and void. You'd have a pass from the inclusives--- everything, everybody, and always.
Of course, life isn't a stop watch. We can step away from the traffic, ease up on the velocity, take a breather from the pace. But, we can't click it off. The meter is running. And we're told to be thankful for everything, which includes everybody I think, always.
It's from the quill of the Apostle Paul, this troubling instruction. He wrote, "speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music from your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for everything to God the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ..." (Ephesians 5:19-20). Sounds like life should be a prayer meeting too, great moments of worship and praise, a thanks fest for every- thing, always. No exceptions, exclusions, or off button.
No doubt we've all had times when we've wondered "how can I be thankful for this?" The daily treadmill is rarely a prayer circle, and the realities of living in a fallen world are perpetually evident. So, the "everything" of gratitude is grounded in the truth that He is always working for our good and that He will bring His work to completion. The promise of His finishing the work He started in us doesn't dull the edge of hard times or ease the weight of trials. But, it does produce endurance in us so we can persevere those everything hardships.
So, what about "always". How do I give thanks for everything with no down time, no button to click the timer off while it hurts. I can only speak for me, but it's another promise that bridges "always". It's from Peter's first letter. The phrasing of the New International Version registers most clearly with me. "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time" (1 Peter 5:6). There's the idea that a "due time" is coming, His time. Due time doesn't click us out of the burden but through it. It also places us humble before Him as the hardship presses us. There's no better place to be when "always" is happening than under His mighty hand.
Life is real, and it's often hard. Tests and trials and trouble are what Jesus promised His followers. He also promised them that He had overcome the world. Then there are the times---seconds, minutes, weeks, and possibly years---when His always commands push us beyond our boundaries, under His mighty hand.
And, you can't click that off either.
That God is always working can't really be argued. History is the record of it, and too much of it has miraculous overtones that can't be explained any other way. People of faith know He's working for our good too. This fact alone gives us hope as we grieve and try to make sense of a troubled world. Many of us expect this good to come gift-wrapped in a smart package delivered at the time and place of our choosing. Now, or sooner works best.
Someone smarter than me said diamond miners have to sift through a lot of dirt to unearth a diamond these days. It's more than possible that the good He's doing in our lives is buried deep under layers of life too. That may be one of the reasons so many of us have a hard time thanking God for everything (see 1 Thess. 5:18). The horror of some events blinds us so that we cannot detect the faint outlines of the good He's working in us. That good may actually be indistinct on the far horizon, beyond the curvature of our imagination. Like the diamond, it could be buried under tons and tons of dirt. As people of hope we know the good is there. But, our best Sunday School ideals often makes them near, the belief that we are on the cusp of them right now. They are, however, dimmed by time.
The writer of Hebrews encouraged his readers and challenged them to remain strong in heart as they waited for deliverance. He told them to endure, that is, to remain long, to hyper-stay. He wrote, "For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, so that you won't grow weary and lose heart" (Heb. 12:3). It's what happens to many of us as we wait for the good. We lose heart, give up, throw in the towel because we expected the good to come sooner.
So, the thanking God in everything part becomes an unfulfilled dream, and as the clock ticks and the calendar turns, sometimes a hidden doubt. The good may linger and linger, we may find the wherewithal to thank Him in anticipation of it. But, waiting gets harder and harder.
Another promise makes the outline of that good more distinct. Paul wrote it. To the Philippians, he wrote, "I am sure of this, that He who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus" (Philippians 1:6). That He is always working gives us vision for life. That He is working for our good is a promise that we'd like to grasp and live by, but that often fades as we wait. To know that He will bring it to completion surrounds us with endurance.
Paul also wrote, "But if we wait for hope we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience" (Romans 8:25). Ouch, there's that word again, patience. That's what I want as I wait to discover the good in some pretty painful experiences. And, guess what? It's a fruit of the Spirit and should grow in my life as a product of my relationship with Him.
And, when I wait and see it clearly, this good that is out there, then with a clear heart I can thank Him for everything, dirty hands and all.
So, I'm trying to decide what I miss most! Lately I've been abandoned by four very old friends and the jury is out on which one of them has left the largest void in my life. It's tough, trying to get by without them. But, as we know, life goes on. We must make adjustments. They're gone and most likely will never return. Though the grief is real and intense, and I miss them every day, I am resolved to move on.
They were old reliable friends: my mind, my hearing, my fingers, and my shoulders. Up front let me make it clear that I'm not making fun of people who are handicapped in any way. I'm just confessing the loss of these good friends after their being with me for the past sixty four years.
The mind thing is mostly about memory. Thankfully this mind still functions for the most part, and gets me through the challenges of each day. But, the memory part is experiencing some sync problems. Someone explained it like this: the human mind is a bucket. From birth we start putting knowledge and information into the bucket. At some point it gets full. Things start falling out. What falls out is what went in there last. So, I can remember what I did in 1965, but not what I had for breakfast this morning. Then again, there's a certain bliss with this loss. Some things may be best forgotten.
The hearing involves a mixture of fun, frustration, and sometimes frenzy. Every sentence Harriet and I share these days closes with "huh?" That can be a little funny, and a little frustrating. There's the possibility we're often using the mumbling dialect on occasion as well. But, the hearing thing can involve absolute panic too. When Harriet asks, "Is my new blouse too tame?" I'm a little rattled if I hear "I think the house is aflame." Still, sometimes it's fun to act clueless. What?
OK, it's not a real day if I don't drop my keys thirteen times before I get the house locked and the car started every morning. Evidently my fingers have lost some of their feeling. Maybe it's some nerve damage from operating the keyboard on my lap top or doing the texting thing these days. But, the loss of my fingers is alarming at times. I mean, coffee mugs and drinking glasses don't rebound when I drop them. They're not like keys. Not to mention the agility to handle buttons and zippers, signing documents, and doing other delicate things. I really miss my fingers.
Shoulders may seem a little insignificant. But, these days lap top cases, shoulder bags, and luggage won't stay in place. Half-way to the car they all slide off what used to be my shoulder and end up in the crook of my elbow. Harriet's make-up bag doesn't hang well from the elbow, especially when I've got her book bag in one hand, and groceries in the other. Maybe it's a man thing, but I'd like strong shoulders.
So, I'm a little puzzled about which one I miss the most. I thought I had it all worked out yesterday, pros and cons, a detailed listing of each item, how they were used in the past, and what I miss about them today. You know, a spread sheet with four columns and notations.
But, I can't remember where I put it.
Funny thing, the coolness meter doesn't register what you'd think. It's not about skinny jeans or tight plaid shirts or funky hair. The coolness scale isn't about hip Urban Dictionary dialects or text hieroglyphics. That meter on the right can't gauge sun-glasses, designer socks, or shoulder bags. No, cool is much deeper than that.
Of course, my list are false positives. They're a figment of my imagination, the product of my own very uncool milieu. You see, fat old guys often wrongly think cool is something physical. Which is blatantly wrong.
Our daughter Liz whacked me with that stuff ten years ago when Harriet and I moved to North Charleston. Our new context at Northwood Baptist Church was younger, the campus surrounded by eleven apartment complexes, and two sub-divisions aimed at first time home buyers. So, Liz said, "Please dad, don't try to be cool"! Ouch, like a 54 year old can't talk the language of the culture. But, it was a spot on comment, a warning that addresses a real flaw in many of our observation skills.
So, how do you connect with a young, millennial demographic? Many of us preacher types go simple here, maybe shallow is the term. We tend to think cool connects, and that cool is a look, a language, a lifestyle, labels, leanness, liberated, loose, and a whole Thesaurus of descriptives. As a result, the landscape is suddenly cluttered with pot-bellied grey heads packed into slim cut jeans, talking the talk and trying to walk the walk of coolness. And, since it takes one to know one, let me add that this pretense is totally uncool.
It's the school of hard knocks, a few lessons about nerdiness and coolness learned while trying to engage a young world. Mark it down. [1] Coolness does connect with the younger generational cohort. [2] Contrary to first impressions, coolness isn't about any of the physical or material stuff. [3] What is really cool to this group is authenticity. You know, being real. [4] Truth resonates loudly among the younger set. [5] Millennials can detect uncool on the spot.
Maybe everybody else already knows this. But, with twenty SBC churhces closing every week there's a rush to find new ways to connect. This is especially true of the Millennial cohort because of the six generations, they're the least engaged by the church. For this reason many of our wisest and most seasoned ministers have fallen for the trick that snares so many of our colleagues: preaching and teaching for the approval or applause of men rather than God. It's the holy grail thing, or the search for the fountain of youth. The scramble for coolness has many of us becoming the fakes we preach about every Sunday. Uh, that would be hypocrites, biblically.
No, many of America's great contemporary preachers aren't cool by the pop culture standard. They are cool, and extremely effective, because they speak truth straight down the line, pull no punches, and tell everyone about Jesus, the one who radically changes things. You know it's true, Jesus himself never tried to be cool or get people to like Him. He spoke the language of the Kingdom, truth that could set them free.
Jesus said the world wouldn't like us anyway. He promised blessings if we suffer as a result of following Him. So, let's hitch up the full cut jeans and be authentically His. Anything else is uncool.
Uncool.
How we communicate is important. That's why the learning curve for churches is so steep, the challenge of learning to speak the language of the culture. It's become something of an obsession too, the how of communication. Preaching, teaching and disciple making are suddenly enhanced by social media, live streaming, video feeds, and all the nuances of telling the story twenty-first century style. In fact, the how question may have eclipsed other more important considerations in this dialogue. At some level, the what question may have gotten squeezed into a small corner, over- shadowed by You Versions, Instagrams, text messaging, and live polling.
Francis Schaeffer said, "Each generation of the church in each setting has the responsibility of communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of that setting". This has been the challenge of church leaders on the ground in every culture, nation, and mission locale, relating the truth of His word in ways that penetrate the special barriers of human diversity. It's been especially troublesome in speaking millennial, the dialect of the generational cohort born from the late 1970's through the early 2000's.
This generation is suddenly the largest population group among America's six living generations, and the least connected to the traditional church. So, spiritual groups, including traditional Christian congregations and denominations, have gone to school on ways to break through the communication barriers to them. Authenticity seems to be the central talking point in this regard. But, there are add-ons too: reality faith, story telling, wise use of humor, testimony of changed lives, irreverence, frankness, technology, and more.
Underneath the desire to connect is a more basic fact. It is that the truth of the Gospel always communicates. History records the effective transmission of the Good News in every nation, among every people group, in every generation, to every sub- catorgory of human diversity, and the strata of every socio-economic layer. How the message is proclaimed has always been secondary to the clarity of the message itself. Paul became all things to all people in faithfulness to the Gospel message. It is the power of God for salvation, that which transforms lives, moves people to Christ. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God. So, underneath the dilemma of trying to speak a generation specific language, is the truth that the Good News spoken by a person who has truly experienced it will always translate.
The cool stuff---great music, clever phrasing, story-telling gifts, humor, real life illustrations, video clips, and all the other angles that help us transmit the message, are methodological means of putting us into the conversation. Our intro must be fresh and up-to-date. They get us to the table. But, they are not the message.
He is the message. If He is lost in the verbal calisthenics, then the methods just may be wrong. What is more, if the messengers get better press than the message, that's another problem for another day.
Each generation of the church in each setting has the responsibility of communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of that setting.
Each generation of the church in each setting has the responsibility of communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of that setting.
Each generation of the church in each setting has the responsibility of communicating the gospel in understandable terms, considering the language and thought-forms of that setting.