Five Thanksgiving Commands

Shout joyfully to the LORD, all the earth. Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations. 
Psalm 100 A Psalm for Thanksgiving

Psalm 100 was written as a Psalm for Thanksgiving to God.  It gives us five specific ways we can show thanksgiving to God.   Yesterday we looked at the first three of these commands – Shout joyfully to the Lord; Serve the Lord with gladness; and Come before Him with Joyful singing.  Today we are looking at the last two commands from Psalm 100.

Five Thanksgiving Commands
The Fourth Command - "Know that the Lord Himself is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people, the sheep of His pasture." God took every bone, every joint, and He welded them together with sinews and muscles and covered them with skin and gave us eyes that see, brains that think, and fingers that can pick things up. God made us, inside and out. He made you the way He wanted you to be. And He made me the way He wanted me to be. 

He is still making us. We are His workmanship – a work in progress. He's not satisfied with the unfinished product. He's not satisfied with your temper. He's not satisfied with the weak areas of your life where you are giving in to temptation. So, He's still making us. He's still working on our lives.  God is our maker, and we are created in His image. Therefore, give Him thanks for who you are. 

Then He says, "We are His people, the sheep of His pasture." Most of us want to be shepherds, not sheep.  It's not any fun being sheep, but the problem is, we don't know where the still waters and green pastures are. And every time we go out searching for them, we invariably end up in the far country.  He is saying, "You be the sheep. Let me be the shepherd, and I will lead you beside the still waters and the green pastures. Just let me lead."

The Fifth Command -Enter His gates with thanksgiving And His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the LORD is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting And His faithfulness to all generations.   In the O.T. the temple symbolized the presence of God. So, whenever the people came to the temple and entered the courtyards they knew that they had come into the presence of God.  Now that temple no longer exists. But oftentimes the place where we meet to worship God is called a "sanctuary," indicating that God is there. But God is everywhere.  He is with you as you drive on the highway. He is with you when you work. He is with you as you care for your children. He is with you every moment of your life. 

That is the source of our thanksgiving, isn't it?  But what if God began to treat us like we so often treat Him? What if God met our needs to the same extent that we give Him our lives?  What if God answered our prayers the way we answer His call for service? What if God decided to stop leading us tomorrow because we did not follow Him today?  Thankfully we have a merciful and loving Heavenly Father who never takes His blessings and love away because in our humanness we fail Him so much.  What could we ever be more thankful for?  And on top of that, He blesses us abundantly in so many other ways.  

Scripture to Claim:
And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.   John 17:3