Skip to main content

Thanksgiving 2020 - Psalm 117

 

Thanksgiving 2020 – Psalm 117

Nearly 160 years ago, Abraham Lincoln called a divided nation to acknowledge and give thanks to the One True God…

 

THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION

Abraham Lincoln, 1863

"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord. We know that by His divine law, nations, like individuals, are subjected to punishments and chastisements in this world. May we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people? We have been the recipients of the choisest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own. Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us. It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens." 

That call could not be more relevant to us today!

Ps 117 is the shortest Psalm in the Bible, but it is a powerful reminder of for how much we need to be Thankful! Read first the Thanksgiving Proclamation of Abraham Lincoln… The God who is, the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, has reached into human history, and involved us in His story. It has been a tough year, can we still give thanks?

The US is not Israel, but notice how Ps 117 starts…

I. Praise God for His Grace (v.1): “Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!  For great is his steadfast love toward us…” Think about this, the Psalms are the songbook of Israel. Psalm 2 showed the nations raging against God and His Anointed. But here the call goes out to the nations, to the peoples of the earth, to gentiles like most of us, and calls us to worship Him!

Think that through! God had chosen Israel from out of all the nations of the world. To them he sent prophets who brought his word, he protected and preserved them as a nation and gave them the land. And then, in the fulness of time, he sent forth the Son… But the psalmist is writing centuries before Jesus came into the world! Even then, God was concerned with the nations, and the call was for all to come and worship the one true God!

Notice how he is identified in verse 1… Praise the Lord… written in all caps, this is the divine name, YAHWEH… (3 times in 2 verses!). The God of the covenant, the God who spoke to Moses from the burning bush and eventually brought the nation into the promised land. The parallel phrase in verse one makes it even more emphatic: Praise the LORD, all nations! Extol him, all peoples!  What grace! Pagans, idolators, heathens, are called to repent and believe, to come to the true God and worship Him!. Paul cites this verse in Rom 15:8-12 along with verses from the Law and the Prophets,

8 For I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,  9 and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written, "Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles, and sing to your name."  10 And again it is said, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people."  11 And again, "Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles, and let all the peoples extol him."  12 And… Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope."

Consider God’s faithfulness, remember His amazing grace and unconditional love, and then let’s take time to thank Him!

II. Praise God for His Love (2a) “for great is His steadfast love toward us…”

       The description here is beautiful, “great,” has the sense of “prevailing over someone or something because of its vast, superior qualities...” Great the Father’s love toward us, love beyond all measure! Great is thy faithfulness! Look at that little word, “us”. The Jewish psalmist is speaking, and including the nations with Israel as the objects of God’s steadfast love. The word there, chesed, is hard to translate, it is covenantal love, electing love, love connected to God’s faithfulness to his promises. Think of what Jesus showed in the cross: Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. God demonstrated his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Rom 5:8). Read the first verse of the next psalm, Ps 118:1, “Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world, that we might live through Him! It has been a tough year… but consider God’s faithfulness, remember His amazing grace and unconditional love, and then let’s take time to thank Him.

III. Praise God for His faithfulness (v.2b). Love and faithfulness are two attributes of God that frequently are mentioned together. It is probably what John was evoking when he said  “For the law was given by Moses; grace and truth came by Jesus Christ…” (Jn 1:17). God’s Word is true, and God always acts faithfully in accordance with his Word of Truth. He is trustworthy. In a world that seems chaotic, Consider God’s faithfulness, remember His amazing grace and unconditional love, and then let’s take time to thank Him.” “Praise the Lord… Extol Him all peoples…”  AMEN.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Welcome to the Philadelphia!

 And we have been welcomed by the church family at Lawndale Baptist Church! We come to the area and a new ministry in unusual times. We are still dealing with a resurging pandemic in this region, we are nearing a critical election that has exposed deep divisions in our country, and there have been protests and disruptions, and in some cases rioting and looting, in many areas of our country, including Philadelphia. I certainly don't have any easy answers to the challenges we are facing, but I think it is pretty clear that all of these things remind us that we are living in a fallen world. The consequences of the Fall are evident all around us. If the problem is sin, the answer is Jesus . And so, we are here to hold forth hope, by holding forth the Word of Life. We are here to urge men and women, on behalf of Christ, to be reconciled with God. I plan to post on this blog weekly the study that will be the basis of my preaching at the Lawndale Baptist Church in Philadelphia each week....
2 comments
Read more

“Getting the Gospel Right: The Gospel and the Grace of Christ” - Galatians 1:6-10

    “Getting the Gospel Right: The Gospel and the Grace of Christ ” Galatians 1:6-10 Introduction : It seems that today one of the most valued attitudes by our society is that we be tolerant and inclusive, even in matters of faith.   One former evangelical wrote a book entitled, “Love Wins,” which essentially arrived at a position of universalism: eventually our loving God will let everyone into heaven. So basically, it doesn’t really matter what you believe, as long as you believe in yourself, you’ll be ok. To say that there is a narrow road that leads to life, to say that there is only one way , one truth , one life , to say that there is only one name under heaven by which we must be saved , that would be so intolerant as to be offensive. We don’t get to make up in our own mind what is truth! The God who is Truth has spoken. One young pastor had begun to doubt the authenticity of God’s Word... A couple of years after [ he ] was called to pastor a church, he was...
1 comment
Read more

Sowing to the Spirit - Galatians 6:6-10

  Sowing to the Spirit Galatians 6:6-10 Introduction : Reaping what you sow . If you planted a bag of corn in your garden, you probably wouldn’t expect to harvest bushels of tomatoes… Paul is using another metaphor from agriculture that would have been crystal clear to his readers. They lived in an agrarian society. They saw the sowers and reapers doing their work at the appropriate time. A much higher percentage of the population was in fact directly involved in farming at some level. They knew about sowing and reaping, seedtime and harvest . There is a basic law of nature that we can observe, and that all must agree is truth: You will reap what you sow . In our passage today Paul is teaching that what is true about string beans and radishes is also true in the spiritual realm. If you sow to the Spirit you will reap the blessings of the abundant life that God intends for His people. If you sow to the flesh, the fallen, sinful human nature, you will reap the consequences. As cl...
1 comment
Read more