Day #17: “Prayers of Thanksgiving” – Psalm 138:1-3 (Joseph Bianco)
Palms 138: 1-3
I give you thanks, O Lord, with my whole heart;
before the gods I sing your praise;*
I bow down toward your holy temple
and give thanks to your name for your steadfast love and your faithfulness,
for you have exalted above all things
your name and your word.**
On the day I called, you answered me;
my strength of soul you increased.
In the Bible there are many examples of prayer-filled-thankfulness, but Psalm 138 is a quintessential psalm of thanksgiving. It’s a psalm that begins with thankfulness and ends with a call for the Lord to fulfill his promises to his people. It’s an interesting psalm because the people are thankful for what God has done for them in the past, but there is also an acknowledgment that in some ways they are still lacking. They are still waiting on God to act.
The first lesson to learn then, is that thankfulness must happen constantly. We must constantly go to God with thankfulness whether it’s a been a day of gain or a day of loss. There is always something we can be thankful for and we must count our blessings lest we forget all that God has done for us. Being constantly thankful, also allows us to trust God in what he has not yet given to us. The time of waiting is the hardest part.
For example, if your old aunt Margie dies and you are promised her inheritance, are you thankful even though you do not yet have the inheritance? Of course you are! You are very thankful because you know you have a million buckaroos coming your way. It’s hasn’t arrived yet, but your thanking God because you know it’s coming.
Well, we have an inheritance far greater than a million dollars, but we can become disillusioned because it hasn’t happened yet. The reality of God’s eternal promises can feel less real for us than that of future earthly inheritance. The truth is that God’s eternal promises are not actually less real at all. We just haven’t experienced them all yet.
The psalmist gives thanks primarily for who God is and secondarily for what God has done for him. All of this thanksgiving is wrapped up in the last line of the psalm, “Do not forsake the work of your hands.” God knows it’s hard for us to wait; but thanksgiving is the antidote.
I’ll tell you a secret. I used to pray before bed recounting the day’s events. The problem I was experiencing is that it wasn’t bringing me peace, rather it was reminding me of all the problems I’d have to deal with tomorrow. I began to change my bedtime prayer to be simply a prayer of thanks. I would confess sin and pray for others earlier in the day, but at nighttime I started to just say “thank you” to my Father. After I started to pray and thank him for all he has done for me, it is easier to go to bed trusting in God’s goodness to me, and I can let what comes tomorrow… come tomorrow. For now, I close my eyes in thankfulness of all God has blessed me with and all that he is.
Take time now to thank God for his character, for his faithfulness and for his promises.
*Notes: “gods” in v. 1 is taken in various ways. Some see it as angels and others as human rulers. I personally take the views that “gods” means “gods” in the sense that David is not going to the lesser “gods” but to the true God.
**For v. 2 there is an ESV footnote of an alternate rendering. While these footnotes can be helpful, please understand that if the translators include it, it does not mean that it can be equally traded out for the verse in the scripture. They are simply indicating another less likely possibility, but a possibility nonetheless.