An Invitation to Thanksgiving
In Psalm 95:1-7 we find a wonderful invitation to thanksgiving that has nothing to do with turkeys. The Psalmist begins this psalm by saying “Come, let us sing for joy to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation. Let us come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” One of the primary reasons the Psalmist gives for offering God our thanksgiving and praise is that He is “our Maker.” We’re told in verses 3-5, “In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land.”
I preached on this passage this past Sunday and told my congregation that when I read these words that I cannot help but think of a song I loved to sing as a child. That song is “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” An important element of my faith is the belief that God created the world and that the “whole wide world” is, indeed, in His hands. For that reason I give thanks this Thanksgiving for the gift of Creation. What an incredible and beautiful world God made! I also give thanks that God’s hand still holds and sustains that which He has made-including us.
Although I’m confident the Psalmist was thinking of literal valleys, mountains, seas and deserts when he wrote what he did in Psalm 95, I also think we can see these figuratively. When we go through life’s valleys—times of trouble or sickness–we are still in God’s hands. When we are “on the mountaintop” and everything is going well for us, God is there. For the ancient Israelites the sea was feared. In the scary times and places of our life God is always present. And when we go through the dry, arid, periods in life that inevitably come our way God is there too. He has the whole world in His hands and He’s got us in those hands as well. That truth gives me a great deal of comfort and hope day to day and makes me want to “come before him with thanksgiving and extol him with music and song.” This Thanksgiving I will have no shortage of things for which to give thanks!
–Chuck
p.s. I want to wish each of you a very happy Thanksgiving and say thanks for taking the time to read the words Rob and I share with you through SeeingCreation.com.