Every day throughout November, we’ll bring you a devotional focused on giving thanks, gratitude, or giving of ourselves. We welcome you to check in each day and give thanks along with us!
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
Let Israel say, “His faithful love endures forever.
Psalms 118:1-2 HCSB
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Hallelujah!
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
Psalm 106:1 HCSB
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
Psalm 107:1 HCSB
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
Psalm 118:29 HCSB
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good.
His love is eternal.
Psalm 136:1
Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good;
His faithful love endures forever.
1 Chronicles 16:34 HCSB
Repetition, in the Bible, emphasizes the importance of the statement. Psalm 118:1 must be really important since it is repeated almost verbatim at least 6 times. I love how this verse creates a question and supplies the answer.
Give thanks to the Lord.
Why ?
For He is good.
Why ?
His faithful love endures forever.
I am sitting in a room in a skilled nursing facility as I am writing this, and thinking about the frailty of life and the finality of death. Yet, looking at these verses, I am reminded that death is not final. God’s love endures forever. His loves for us is eternal. So much so that “God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 NKJV
As I was researching Psalm 118:1, I came across this quote from Matthew Henry:
“The more our hearts are impressed with a sense of God’s goodness, the more they will be enlarged in all manner of obedience.”
Praising God and thanking God reminds us of His goodness thus making us more willing to be obedient to Him. I really want to be more obedient to God. But sometimes I find it hard to gives thanks. I get caught up in life. What I need to remember is that circumstances do not determine my reasons for giving thanks. My reasons for giving thanks is summed up in John 3:16 (God so loved that He gave) and Psalm 118:1 (He is good). Goodness is part of God’s character, it is what He is. His love is faithful, enduring, and eternal. And those are the only reasons I need.
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So I will give thanks to You, Lord, for You ARE good and Your love does endure forever.
AMEN – it is so!
