Time to write – or even think about writing – has been hard to come by. Between increased work demands over the past few weeks, preparation for the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, and just general distractions, I have written very little new material, and posted even less, in two months.
So, I’ve decided to intentionally put the blog on hiatus, except for maybe a Christmas post or two, until 2024. In the meantime, I’m planning for the new year including what writing goals to set and how to achieve them. I’ll likely post a Bible-in-a-year outline every Sunday and perhaps recycle old posts that refer to those texts as we go along.
So Merry Christmas to all and see you again in 2024!
“Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.” – Colossians 4:2
The purpose of celebrating Thanksgiving yesterday was to remind us to be thankful today and every day. What was worth being thankful for yesterday is still with you today!
If Christianity is true, this is not “being a Pollyanna” or seeing the world through rose-colored glasses. Live like it is true by making thanksgiving a habit, not a holiday.
Often the writers of the Psalms aren’t just trying to teach us about God, but they are trying to share their experience of Him. As in Psalm 96 and 100, included in earlier posts, Psalm 136 opens with encouragement, or even instructions, to join the Psalmist in thanksgiving:
“Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for his steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for his steadfast love endures forever” – Psalm 136:1-3
All 26 verses of this Psalm end with the phrase “for his steadfast love endures forever,” following something about God that is worthy of praise and thanksgiving. This constant repetition is a reminder that it is “his steadfast love” for His people that drives His acts of creation, His works in history, and ultimately His death on the cross. His works are all done by a person, for a people. What God really desires is relationship with us. We are not alone in the universe.
Giving thanks only makes sense if someone exists to thank, who is good, and has the power to provide what we are thankful for. If creation is a mere accident, if wicked acts are never corrected and righteous acts are never rewarded, and if mankind can only hope in themselves, there is no reason to give thanks to someone, or something, else. Many religions seem to acknowledge this, giving personality and reverence to created things – trees, the sun, the harvest, and so on – but in Christ we can know the Person who is behind it all, and who actually is a Person that loves us.
Therefore, today give thanks to the Lord who is good, and is above any god or lord of this world. As we celebrate Thanksgiving today in the United States, be thankful above all else that Someone exists to thank, that He is good, and that He has the power, and love, needed to care for His people. Now and forever.
Amen.
Earlier posts on Participating in the Psalms are here, here, and here.
Sometimes Proverbs seems like a collection of sayings in a random order but sometimes taking one out of context can change the meaning entirely. Take for example Proverbs 15:15 –
“All the days of the afflicted are evil, but the cheerful of heart has a continual feast.”
One way of reading this might be that if we have a continual feast, we will of course be cheerful, while affliction will sour our attitude. However, the following two verses tell us that what we consider to be a feast is a matter of the perspective we bring to it, not the contents of the meal:
“Better is a little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble with it. Better is a dinner of herbs where love is than a fattened ox and hatred with it.”
When we choose the fear of the Lord, and to live in love for those we feast with, even a small meal of herbs can be a feast! From a heart of thankfulness, we can be satisfied with whatever manna and daily bread the Lord provides, instead of begging Him for quail.
Therefore, “the cheerful of heart has a continual feast” not because of an elaborate, expensive, multi-course meal, but because of a heart of love that reveres the Lord. If today serves you nothing but herbs, be thankful instead of being like this sad dwarf.
Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection, five quotes on the theme of good vs evil:
“The majority of us begin with the bigger problems outside and forget the one inside. A man has to learn ‘the plague of his own heart’ before his own problems can be solved” – Oswald Chambers
“I think the battle between good and evil is fought largely within the individual human heart, by the decisions that we make. It’s not like evil dresses up in black clothing and you know, they’re really ugly” – Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin
“When people do bad things in the name of religion people say religion is inherently bad; When people do bad things in the name of profit people say profit is inherently bad; When people do bad things in the name of science people say science is inherently bad; When people do bad things in the name of government people say government is inherently bad; but have you noticed that every one of these is ‘people do bad things’ but when you say people do bad things because people are inherently bad, people say you are a mean person and out of your mind.” – Anonymous internet comment
“The line separating good and evil passes, not through states, not between political parties either, but right through all human hearts.” -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
“So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.” – the apostle Paul, in Romans 7:21-25
