How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me?

Psalms 116:12, NIV (1978)

Offer unto God thanksgiving

Psalms 50:14, KJV

 

We owe God a debt of thanksgiving. Are we repaying this debt?

 

This is a question that I think we all need to answer. It is easy at this time of year, because people are more focused upon the holiday of Thanksgiving, and therefore the concept of giving that thanks. But are we truly thankful on a regular basis? Do we daily pause to offer the Lord our thanksgiving for all of His goodness towards us?

 

I know that I fail far too often at this privilege. I focus on the things that aren't going right. From the minor health issues that I might be struggling with, to the constantly rising prices on necessities that must be paid, and from the things I see others doing that don't meet my satisfaction, to the seemingly insatiable appetite the governing authorities have for taxing me. You and I could list dozens more things that are annoyances in our lives, but you get the point. We are often too quick to dwell on the things that aren't going our way, and too slow to recognize the many things that are.

 

But I have found this truth to be helpful: when we give attention to the manifold blessings that God has showered upon our loves, and when we regularly pause to offer thanksgiving to Him for these gifts, we find ourselves spending less and less time on what we don't have, and more and more time on what we do. And this causes us to overflow with thankfulness!

 

Just consider for a moment what we have been given. Most of us have beautiful families. We have been given wonderful health. We have rarely gone hungry (other than in those pesky teenage years). So many of us have been able to enjoy annual vacations, the seasonal excitement of athletics, and the countless daily pleasures that are too numerous to mention. God has thought of every rightful blessing for our enjoyment! But His blessings go way beyond these physical things! He has allowed us to worship Him on a weekly basis. He has set aside the first day of the week for us to remember the great gift of salvation that has come through His grace and Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. As if that wasn't enough, He has given us His holy word that answers clearly every question we might have as to how to be saved, how to worship, and how to live our daily lives.

 

And then He has given one more gift that is almost incomparable to all the privileges mankind has ever been bestowed with: He has given us the ability to speak with Him, any time, day or night. If that were not enough, He goes beyond merely bestowing this privilege in that He actually wants us to talk to Him. He wants us to present our rightful requests to Him. And though He knows far better than do we what we are needing, He wants us to voice those desires to Him, directly, through the avenue of prayer. 

 

And in all of these things, He wants us to be (and He expects us to be) thankful.

 

We are in the season for thanksgiving at the present. As I write this article, we have another Thanksgiving coming up this very Thursday. Most of us will gather around the table and offer the Lord our thanksgiving. We will express our gratitude for all of His blessings, and we will likely make a big deal of offering a special prayer before our "big meal" to do so. But then the rest of the day will be ours to watch the parades and the games and the Christmas specials. We will likely eat several big meals on this day, and graze in between. These things are all well and good, and entirely appropriate for us to enjoy in the proper measure, but do we think of this:

 

Do we think about how truly blessed we are, and do we make a conscience effort to pause several times each day throughout the year to offer our thanksgiving to the Giver of our lifelong feast?

 

Or are we much more likely to pause several times a day, every day of the year, to complain about the things that are not going to our satisfaction? 

 

You see, thanksgiving is not just a day, but it is a habit. When we lose this habit (or when we fail entirely to acquire it in the first place) we become a most ingrateful people indeed. Without this habit of continual thanksgiving, we become selfish and petulant and dissatisfied. But we become something even less unattractive than these: we become deadbeats! For there is a fact in life that no decent person should ever forget: We are highly blessed, dearly loved children of the One who has created us and who gives us our every rightful desire. Because of this we must realize that we owe Him a tremendous debt of gratitude that can never really be repaid. 

 

But we must at least try!

 

And so, when we consider that eternal question uttered by the Psalmist thousands of years ago, "How can I repay the LORD for all His goodness to me?", the answer is that we really cannot... but we need to try. And the way we can best do that is to have a heart filled with continual thanksgiving towards the Lord Who blesses us so richly each day. And even though this debt of thanksgiving can never be fully repaid, unlike our mortgages and car loans, it is a joy and a privilege to render each installment of these payments whenever we have the occasion to do so. 

 

For those of us who are Christians, we are genuinely the most blessed people to have ever lived. We have our daily baskets filled with blessings that overflow far beyond anything we could possibly deserve. We have a loving Father and a loving Savior! If that were not enough, we also have the prospect of an eternity with Them, if we will simply do our part. And one of the most important aspects of "our part" is the daily privilege (and duty) of thanksgiving!

 

Isn't God good! Let us be sure to be thankful for all of that goodness!