gratitude

“Offer unto God thanksgiving…whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation of God” (Psalm 50:14,23). In these verses, the same word is translated as thanksgiving and praise. The Hebrew word tôwdâh (to – daw´) is properly translated as “an extension of the hand” and is usually associated with adoration (8462). When a person is offering praise to God, he is lifting his hands toward heaven in an expression of adoration.

The Israelite thanksgiving offering was a type of peace offering that was made when a person was delivered from trouble or distress. A situation that causes us distress is one that involves psychological or spiritual pain. In a sense, it can be like torture because it is outside our control and affects us deeply within our soul.

The nightmares I experienced after I was raped are an example of distress that God has delivered me from. Sometimes I didn’t want to fall asleep because of the terror I experienced in my dreams. I would wake up afterwards in a state of panic and sometimes feel the presence of demonic beings.

I think the reason the thanksgiving offering was linked with peace was because being delivered from distress results in peace and it produces a great deal of appreciation, and likewise adoration of God. I believe the key to understanding thanksgiving is first hand experience with the feelings associated with distress and knowing what trouble is really about.

The word translated trouble, tsârâh (tsar – raw´) means tight (6869) and is derived from the word tsar (tsawr) which means a tight place (6862). The idea behind both of these words is that of being stuck or unable to escape. “Tsar is a general designation for ‘enemy'” (6862), so the word implies being trapped by an enemy and unable to escape. Although there is clearly an enemy involved in the act of rape, the feeling of being trapped usually occurs afterward when the memory of what happened gets stuck in your brain and causes you psychological pain many years later.

Deliverance is typically something that only God can do. In essence, an act of deliverance is a miracle because it is an impossible situation that is turned around or made right. In order to truly deliver someone from distress, you have to eliminate the psychological and spiritual pain she is experiencing, which usually involves the elimination of memory.

There are many ways that God’s salvation can be manifested. In the same way that he is able to remove our sin and make it as if it never happened, God can remove memories and make it as if certain events or experiences have never happened. If you have received his salvation, then thank God, and praise him with your hands lifted high this Thanksgiving.

It is common courtesy to say thank you when someone gives you a gift or does something kind for you, but saying thank you doesn’t necessarily mean you are grateful. Gratitude is actually the feeling that causes us to respond when we experience something good or pleasant. Saying thank you could be a habit. It doesn’t always express a feeling.

Many of David’s psalms were responses to God’s goodness and blessing in his life. After the ark of the covenant of the LORD was brought to Jerusalem, David wrote a psalm of gratitude that is recorded in 1 Chronicles 16:8-36. In the introduction to the psalm it says that David delivered the psalm to Asaph, the worship leader, to thank the LORD (1 Chronicles 16:7).

David’s psalm instructs us to make known his deeds and talk about his wondrous works as a way of saying thank you to God. There is no greater way to say thank you than to tell the story of what had been done for you so that others will know about it.

God’s works are described as wondrous and marvelous (1 Chronicles 16:9,12). The Hebrew word pâlâ’ (paw – law´) means to be beyond one’s power to do (6381). Everyone has limitations, some more than others. Even David, who had a great army and all the wealth of the Promised Land at his disposal, could not make certain things happen.

The ark of the covenant contained a mercy seat upon which the presence of the LORD dwelt. In his sovereignty, the LORD chose Israel to be his people and he dwelt among them in a way that no other people had ever experienced. He gave the land of Canaan to the Israelites as an eternal inheritance and expelled all the people that had been living there so that the Israelites could live in peace and enjoy their prosperity.

In David’s personal life, the LORD had worked to transform him from a shepherd boy to a king. David knew that what God had done was impossible. There was no way in his own strength, David could have accomplished it. Writing a song may not seem like much of a tribute, but it was David’s way of saying thank you, in response to what he felt in his heart.