By: Dale Weckbacher
Psalm 100:5
For
the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
(ESV)
In the United States, we
celebrate Thanksgiving Day in November.
Historically, this is a day commemorating a time when the pilgrims paused
to give thanks to God for a bountiful harvest after previously suffering from a
time of famine. While it is nice to take
one day each year to commemorate this historic event, the giving of thanks to
God should be a normal reaction for Christians.
This is easy to do when times are good and there are many good
circumstances to be thankful about but the real test is can we be thankful to
God in a struggle and crisis by knowing His steadfast love is enduring and God
is faithful to all generations (Psalm
100:5).
Chris Tomlin recorded a remake of
his popular song “How Great is our God” called the world edition where people
sing the chorus in their languages. As
you listen to this video
clip of the song you may not understand what the singers are saying with it
sounding like noise but this is not noise to the Lord and instead, an offering
of praise. The psalmist is not asking
for the planet to make a joyful noise unto the Lord but the people of the
earth. What struck me as I watched the
video were the clips of people living in poverty lifting their hands in praise
to God. Seeing this makes me wonder why
I may complain at times about my problems when these people struggle to survive
daily but can still praise the Lord. The
psalmist tells us that God’s people are to be thankful to God because,
1) The
Lord God made us (Psalm
100:3) – We are the creation of God and even though we rebelled against
God, we are dearly loved by Him for God banished Adam and Eve from the Garden of
Eden with the promise of a savior to restore the relationship God had with humanity
before the fall (Genesis
3:15). Therefore, a belief in God as
the creator is foundational to faith in God for, without knowledge of God as
creator, we would have reason to question why God would even take an interest
in humanity. If we are just products of evolution
then God could just throw us under the bus and wait for the next evolutionary
event, hoping these beings will be more obedient. However, we are creations of God and dearly
loved by Him. The biblical narrative is not
a set of rules which God uses to pass judgment upon humanity but the narrative
of a love story of a loving God who paid a high price to redeem the creation He
loves.
2) We
were redeemed at a high price (1
Corinthians 15:1, 3-4) – Unlike the author of Genesis and the subsequent books
of the Old Testament, we have hindsight and know that the promised redeemer of Genesis
3:15 is God’s only son, Jesus Christ (John
3:16). In addition to the foundation
of God as creator, we must have a foundation of understanding the high price of
our redemption, the death of God’s Son. All
humanity is guilty of sin (Romans
3:23) and been sentenced to death for their sins (Romans
6:23). However, before carrying out
the sentence of death, a substitute, Jesus Christ, came on the scene and took
the sentence upon himself, even though He never sinned (2
Corinthians 5:21; Romans 5:8). God
has paid a high price for our redemption and provided the gift of salvation, a
gift we did not earn, but a gift given out of love (Ephesians
2:8-9). However, we cannot enjoy the
gift unless we unwrap it by professing a belief in the death, burial, and
resurrection of Christ (Romans
10:9-10).
3) We
are the children of God (1
John 3:1-3) – I am blessed to have been raised in a good, although not
perfect, Christian home. For others
reading this, thoughts of home as a child may be a nightmare of physical,
mental, and emotional abuse. However,
when we accept the gift of salvation offered by God through Jesus Christ, we
have adoption into the family of God (Romans
8:12-17). As children of God, we are
heirs with Christ with the condition that we suffer with him to receive
glorification with him (Romans
8:17). This condition of suffering
with him means not all humanity are children of God enjoying adoption and
inheritance with God but only those choosing to accept the gift of salvation
offered by God through Christ. When we
accept Christ we are joining in his death and burial, but also the reward of
his resurrection (1
John 3:1-3).
4) We
are sheep of the Good Shepherd’s pasture (John
10:11-18) – Jesus tells us in John
10:11 that He is the good shepherd. While
few of those reading this may relate to the life of a shepherd, those hearing
Jesus were either shepherds or had frequent encounters with shepherds and
sheep. Sheep are defenseless animals who
need someone to protect them from carnivores like wolves that see them as their
next meal. We also live in a dangerous
world which is obvious for most reading this during the time of the coronavirus
pandemic. It is times like this that challenges
our faith. Will we cower in fear or will
we place our trust in God to get us through this crisis and meet our
needs. My prayer is that those reading
this will place their trust in the good shepherd, Jesus, knowing that as our
good shepherd, He is standing watch over us against enemies trying to destroy,
including a microscopic virus. I
encourage those reading this that have extra time due to sheltering at home to
take the time to binge on God and His Word.
Even in this crisis, it is crucial to remain thankful to
God, not for the crisis but for creating us, redeeming us, adopting us, and
protecting us. If you are reading this
and have never accepted God’s free gift of redemption through Christ, I
encourage you to do so now by praying with me,
Dear Lord Jesus, I know I have sinned (Romans
3:23) and know that the penalty for my sin is death (Romans
6:23). I ask you to forgive me of my
sin and cleanse me as you promise in your Word (1
John 1:9). I believe you died, spent
three days in the grave, and resurrected from the dead and now declare you Lord
of my life.
For those reading this that have a personal relationship
with God through Christ, take this time of crisis to binge on God by spending time
studying and meditating on the Bible, the Word of God and in prayer. We should be offering constant prayers for
those affected by the crisis, those on the front lines serving those affected
by the crisis, those providing essential services, and our leaders that they
lead according to sound Godly counsel.
My prayer is that everyone reading this post stays safe and draws closer
to God during this crisis.
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