Saying ‘thank you’

Mark Grasso

It is sometimes suggested that ‘sorry’ is the hardest word to say. ‘Thank you’ must come a close second — perhaps even for Christians. Parents teach their children to respond with thanks when they receive something because this is morally right. Once formed, this habit will be consistent with what many in the world still expect of human interaction, although there is a danger of it becoming just a habit, unaccompanied by a genuine feeling of appreciation.  

God deserves our thanks for His unspeakable gift (2 Cor. 9:15) and every good thing we enjoy in life, each of which is from Him (Jas. 1:17). However, the human heart is ungrateful (Luke 6:35; Rom. 1:21). This may explain why even under David’s rule it was necessary for there to be an official decree that the Levites would stand at the house of God and praise Him every morning and evening (1 Chr. 23:27–30). Of course, David’s commissions to the Levites when he made Solomon king are largely positive, and this particular office would have been a cherished one. Nevertheless, there may be some incongruity in it being necessary for David to prescribe regular thanksgiving. Surely this should already have been the regular habit of the people day by day (Ps. 92:1–2). Indeed, prayers of thanks could have been offered by them, individually or collectively, at any time, as could the thanksgiving variant of the peace offering (Lev. 7:11–15). The children of Israel appear to have developed a routine of offering many of the animal sacrifices required under the law, but only as a routine. The sincere thanksgiving which God sought was largely absent (Ps. 50:7–14; 69:30–31).

‘It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord’ (Ps. 92:1). One of the features of professing Christians in our day is ungratefulness (2 Tim. 3:2). By contrast, a believer should be marked by the giving of thanks (Eph. 5:4; Col. 2:7). While natural effort and legality have no place in a believer’s walk, there is much to be said for habitual behaviour which is pleasing to the Lord and follows a scriptural pattern, such as beginning each day with thanksgiving and ending it with the same (see e.g. the verses from 1 Chronicles 23 and Psalm 92 cited above), giving thanks for every meal (Rom. 14:6), praising God immediately when He has blessed us (e.g. Dan. 2:23), and making thanksgiving our first reaction to every difficulty as well (e.g. Dan. 6:10), especially where it gives us an opportunity to suffer for the Lord’s name (e.g. Acts 5:41). Even if we feel that our needs are so great that we must spend a lot of time in prayer and supplication, our requests should be accompanied by thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6). The examples of godly men in the Scriptures suggest that the thanksgiving should come first (see e.g. the order of Paul’s prayer for the believers in Colosse in Colossians 1). This is right morally, and may also help us in our prayers as it will remind us of the grace and power of God and increase our trust in Him. The same examples also indicate that the time spent in thanksgiving should be no less than that occupied in making our requests known to God (see again Colossians 1).

It may seem difficult to thank God in a time of a pandemic. However, the exhortation to be grateful to God both at all times and in all things (Eph. 5:20) extends to Covid-19. God’s will in this regard (1 Thess. 5:18) does not mean that we should express some unnatural appreciation for the sufferings which many are experiencing. Rather, we can thank Him for the confidence we can have in the knowledge that, as Judge of the earth, He always acts rightly (Gen. 18:25), the many things which can never be taken from us, such as the eternal security of our salvation (John 10:27–29), the unbroken fellowship with the Father and His Son (1 John 1:3), which we can continue to enjoy even if practical fellowship with other believers is hindered, and so on.

Thanksgiving will accompany the worship which the Lord will receive in heaven (Rev. 4:9). As eternity will not be sufficient to exhaust our expressions of deep, heart-felt gratitude to Him, earnest thanksgiving should also be our habitual occupation even now.

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From: Truth and Testimony, 2021