A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me”—Psalm 50:23a
There’s something contagious, and good, and life transforming about being thankful.
I was sitting around a table with a group of my friends (most of these friends have more life under their belts than you and I, and one of our friends put together collectively) and I asked them if any of them didn’t like Thanksgiving; or, if they knew anyone who didn’t like Thanksgiving. They all said that everyone they knew loved Thanksgiving.
I find that interesting. Holidays are emotionally rich, and sometimes those settings are difficult to wrestle through, but Thanksgiving seems a bit different than the others. Yes, I know that dealing with the occasional crazy family member presents much fodder for stories, but there is something about Thanksgiving that is, well, different.
I think that Psalm 50 will help us understand this. Psalm 50:23 says,
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
This is the concluding verse in this Psalm, and I love what it says,
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;”
Sometimes being thankful is a lot of fun.
I’m thankful when a friend I haven’t seen for a long time stops by. I’m thankful when my child calls me, for no reason other than to talk. I’m thankful when my spouse smiles at me, just because. I’m thankful when the sun is shining, and I am at peace.
But, sometimes being thankful is really, really, difficult.
When I say ‘Amen’ and the prayer isn’t answered, still. When the doctor says the tests are positive. When my friend is angry with me. When they don’t return my call. When I wake up, and the problems I face seem insurmountable.
Sometimes, being thankful, costs me; and the Bible calls this cost a sacrifice.
This is a good place. Not a fun place. Not a place where I am rejoicing in the evil but, a place where being thankful becomes a costly, precious gift that I can give to God.
This is a place where I cannot just go through the motions. I have to choose to be thankful. I have to think about what I am thankful for. I have to choose to be thankful more than my emotions want me to. I have to wrestle deeply with what I believe in order to be thankful. To choose to be thankful in this place, will be hard. In other words, I will have to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength when I am thankful here.
And this sacrifice glorifies God.
Why does this sacrifice glorify God so much?
Because, we have to walk our talk. Look at what verses 14 and 15 say,
“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving [make Thanksgiving your sacrifice to God], and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Too often our bent is to treat God like a Holy ATM machine. We have done thus and so, (devotions, prayed a lot, was good, went to church, gave, etc.) and now we need God to act. We treat God like and idol; And in a place of difficulty—our weakness is exposed. We get desperate. We ache, and we are afraid. We want an answer, now…and we will do whatever it takes to get that answer.
We think that by doing something we can make God act. That’s not true, and we miss the point and the opportunity.
If I am sacrificing to God, what am I doing? I am humbling myself. I am coming before the one who rules all. I am surrendering myself to His Sovereign [One who holds supreme authority] reign over all. It is here that I see the contrast between who I am, and who God is. Verse 21 says,
“These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I [I AM] was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.”
God is holy, perfect, good, without sin. I am not. When I come before God and see the reality of how things are, it is here I begin to understand. This too is a gift, something to be thankful for. It allows me to see truth, and I can agree with God, and this is something to be thankful for. When I finally agree with God—confess—God’s word says,
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”—1 John 1:9
This is a gift from God that I certainly am thankful for. My thankfulness leads me to want to live my life in a way of expressing my thanks to God by obeying Him. As I live my life as a living sacrifice of thanksgiving, I am able to see God for who He is, and myself for who I am, and the thanks deepens because I realize that it is only because of my dependence on God that I am able to do so. I am able to see the holiness of God more clearly—and here is the oddity. I am not dead, but more alive than I have ever been.
Sin cannot stand in the presence of God. Yet, God has invited me to come. It is here that I realize that it is God’s love that has made it possible for me to come and actually to be able to have this conversation and relationship with God. Here we end where we began,
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
Because of the Gospel—the good news of God—we are able to see things the way they were meant to be. With God as the lead of our lives. When we allow God to order our lives rightly, with God at the lead; and, by God’s grace we are able to humble our hearts before Him we overflow with thankfulness. John 3:16, 17 says,
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
God’s sacrifice made this relationship with God possible. God has given me the privilege to come before Him. God has not quit on me even when I quit on Him. God has indeed come to rescue me. Romans 8:32 says,
“Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”
Because of who God is and what He is doing, has done, and will do, I can live a life overflowing with thanks. Through the working of the Holy Spirit in me, I can quickly and cheerfully respond to His leading and be a living sacrifice, of thankfulness to God.
Thank You God.
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me”—Psalm 50:23a
There’s something contagious, and good, and life transforming about being thankful.
I was sitting around a table with a group of my friends (most of these friends have more life under their belts than you and I, and one of our friends put together collectively) and I asked them if any of them didn’t like Thanksgiving; or, if they knew anyone who didn’t like Thanksgiving. They all said that everyone they knew loved Thanksgiving.
I find that interesting. Holidays are emotionally rich, and sometimes those settings are difficult to wrestle through, but Thanksgiving seems a bit different than the others. Yes, I know that dealing with the occasional crazy family member presents much fodder for stories, but there is something about Thanksgiving that is, well, different.
I think that Psalm 50 will help us understand this. Psalm 50:23 says,
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
This is the concluding verse in this Psalm, and I love what it says,
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me;”
Sometimes being thankful is a lot of fun.
I’m thankful when a friend I haven’t seen for a long time stops by. I’m thankful when my child calls me, for no reason other than to talk. I’m thankful when my spouse smiles at me, just because. I’m thankful when the sun is shining, and I am at peace.
But, sometimes being thankful is really, really, difficult.
When I say ‘Amen’ and the prayer isn’t answered, still. When the doctor says the tests are positive. When my friend is angry with me. When they don’t return my call. When I wake up, and the problems I face seem insurmountable.
Sometimes, being thankful, costs me; and the Bible calls this cost a sacrifice.
This is a good place. Not a fun place. Not a place where I am rejoicing in the evil but, a place where being thankful becomes a costly, precious gift that I can give to God.
This is a place where I cannot just go through the motions. I have to choose to be thankful. I have to think about what I am thankful for. I have to choose to be thankful more than my emotions want me to. I have to wrestle deeply with what I believe in order to be thankful. To choose to be thankful in this place, will be hard. In other words, I will have to love God with all of my heart, soul, mind, and strength when I am thankful here.
And this sacrifice glorifies God.
Why does this sacrifice glorify God so much?
Because, we have to walk our talk. Look at what verses 14 and 15 say,
“Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving [make Thanksgiving your sacrifice to God], and perform your vows to the Most High, and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”
Too often our bent is to treat God like a Holy ATM machine. We have done thus and so, (devotions, prayed a lot, was good, went to church, gave, etc.) and now we need God to act. We treat God like and idol; And in a place of difficulty—our weakness is exposed. We get desperate. We ache, and we are afraid. We want an answer, now…and we will do whatever it takes to get that answer.
We think that by doing something we can make God act. That’s not true, and we miss the point and the opportunity.
If I am sacrificing to God, what am I doing? I am humbling myself. I am coming before the one who rules all. I am surrendering myself to His Sovereign [One who holds supreme authority] reign over all. It is here that I see the contrast between who I am, and who God is. Verse 21 says,
“These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I [I AM] was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.”
God is holy, perfect, good, without sin. I am not. When I come before God and see the reality of how things are, it is here I begin to understand. This too is a gift, something to be thankful for. It allows me to see truth, and I can agree with God, and this is something to be thankful for. When I finally agree with God—confess—God’s word says,
“But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”—1 John 1:9
This is a gift from God that I certainly am thankful for. My thankfulness leads me to want to live my life in a way of expressing my thanks to God by obeying Him. As I live my life as a living sacrifice of thanksgiving, I am able to see God for who He is, and myself for who I am, and the thanks deepens because I realize that it is only because of my dependence on God that I am able to do so. I am able to see the holiness of God more clearly—and here is the oddity. I am not dead, but more alive than I have ever been.
Sin cannot stand in the presence of God. Yet, God has invited me to come. It is here that I realize that it is God’s love that has made it possible for me to come and actually to be able to have this conversation and relationship with God. Here we end where we began,
“The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!”
Because of the Gospel—the good news of God—we are able to see things the way they were meant to be. With God as the lead of our lives. When we allow God to order our lives rightly, with God at the lead; and, by God’s grace we are able to humble our hearts before Him we overflow with thankfulness. John 3:16, 17 says,
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.”
God’s sacrifice made this relationship with God possible. God has given me the privilege to come before Him. God has not quit on me even when I quit on Him. God has indeed come to rescue me. Romans 8:32 says,
“Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else?”
Because of who God is and what He is doing, has done, and will do, I can live a life overflowing with thanks. Through the working of the Holy Spirit in me, I can quickly and cheerfully respond to His leading and be a living sacrifice, of thankfulness to God.
Thank You God.
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