“Songs of Thanks” – FBC Morning Light (11/28/2024)

Well, a good Thanksgiving Day to you. I hope you're going to have a good day together. Maybe you're going to gather with friends and loved ones, family members today. If so, I hope it'll be a great time around the table.

I hope you will take some time to reflect and give thanks to the Lord for all his goodness to us. We'll say more about that in just a second. Even if you don't have that privilege of getting with other people today, I nevertheless trust that the purpose of the day will be a reality in your heart, that you will be able to stop and reflect on all that you have to be thankful for.

Our Bible reading today is in 1 Corinthians chapters 4 through 7, but rather than comment on anything in there, what I want to do this morning is just simply read two psalms. Psalm 100 and then Psalm 103.

Psalm 100 is a psalm of thanksgiving, and it reads as follows. It says, Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all you lands. Serve the Lord with gladness, that is, worship him with gladness. Come before his presence with singing.

Know that the Lord, he is God. It is he who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless his name.

For the Lord is good. His mercy is everlasting and his truth endures to all generations. And then Psalm 103. This is a psalm of David, and David writes, he says, Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me.

Bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Such as what? Who forgives all your iniquities, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from destruction, who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, who satisfies your mouth with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagles.

The Lord executes righteousness and justice for all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the children of Israel. The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in mercy.

He will not always strive with us, nor will he keep his anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. Whereas the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward those who fear him.

As far as the East is from the West, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father pities his children, so the Lord pities those who fear him. For he knows our frame, he remembers that we are dust.

As for man, his days are like the grass, as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more. But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him, and his righteousness to children's children, to such as keep his covenant, and to those who remember his commandments to do them.

The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all. Bless the Lord, you his angels, who excel in strength and do his word, heeding the voice of his word. Bless the Lord, all you his hosts, you ministers of his, who do his pleasure.

Bless the Lord, all his works, in all places of his dominion. Oh, bless the Lord, oh my soul. And I trust that today, your soul will truly bless the Lord. So Father, we do thank you today for all your many, many benefits that you shower upon your people.

Father, we can thank you for the wonderful blessings of your common grace upon our nation, upon our communities, but we especially today thank you for your saving grace. We thank you for your forgiving mercy.

We thank you for your faithful and bountiful provision for our needs. We thank you for strength in difficulty, for health in affliction. Lord, so many things for which we have to be grateful. Give us, oh Lord, a grateful heart, and may our souls truly and deeply bless you today.

And this we pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior. Amen. All right, listen, a blessed Thanksgiving Day to you.