“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his steadfast love endures forever.” Psalm 107:1

Some days it feels challenging to have a posture of gratitude, to give thanks to the Lord. I imagine the Israelites felt this too as they wandered in the wilderness for forty years, feeling the pains of hunger and in need of their thirst being quenched. As they faced and endured captivity under multiple oppressors. As they experienced and suffered from afflictions. As they endured the distress of the rough stormy seas. Despair started to creep in while hope slowly began to fade, but this was not the end of the story for God’s people. “Then they cried out to the Lord in their troubles, and the Lord delivered them from their distress.”

Psalm 107 is a psalm of thanksgiving that recalls the redemptive acts of the Lord and expresses God’s covenantal relationship with all His people not just a subset. Through the Hebrew word hesed which is often translated as “steadfast love,” God’s people are assured of the Lord’s faithfulness to and ongoing love for them. No matter what God’s people are going through, the Lord will not abandon them, is present with them through it, and will deliver them. We know this to be true because of the stories and testimonies that witness to God’s redemptive acts and hesed throughout the scriptures.

We as Christians certainly are assured of this and experience the Lord’s hesed through the new covenant established with God’s people through our Savior, Jesus Christ, who died on the cross so that we might be forgiven of our sins, and experience eternal life with Him. As we experience the gift of the Lord’s hesed, our despair is turned into hope.

Living as people of hope, we are encouraged to take on a posture of gratitude! Paul reminds us of this as he writes, “Pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess 5:17-18)

In this season of Thanksgiving, I wonder what it might look like for each of us to create space in our daily lives to spiritually practice remembrance and humbly take on a posture of gratitude, to give thanks to the Lord.

As we remember and get present to the redemptive acts of the Lord and God’s hesed for us, may our lips be moved to praise the Lord joyfully saying or singing...

“Give thanks with a grateful heart Give thanks to the Holy One Give thanks because He's given Jesus Christ, His Son.”

Happy Thanksgiving!

Pastor Jenn