Location and Times1Chronicles 16:34 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
We are to give thanks unto the Lord. It should be a natural outgrowth of our understanding of who He is and what He has done. He is God. He is good. He has saved us. His mercy endures forever.
In many ways in my life I have had problems giving thanks to the Lord because I have had a misconception of who He is and what He does. Have you ever had this problem? I haven’t been as thankful as I should have been because I have often thought of our God has being harsh with me. I have thought that He wasn’t pleased with me. I have almost had an adversarial relationship with Him.
I thanked Him when He did something special for me. I thanked Him when things went well but when things went wrong I blamed Him. Have you ever had this problem?
I even felt resentful. I was like why in the world did He do this to me? What is going on? I don’t deserve this. I have done everything I was supposed to do.
I didn’t recognize His character as the motive for praise. I also had gathered from much preaching all my life that God was sort of angry or upset with me. I didn’t feel like I could ever meet His expectations. Have you ever felt that way?
Well we praise Him because He is good. We praise Him because His mercy endures for ever.
By the way, the problem wasn’t God it was my caricature of Him. He has been very good to me. He is not, nor has He been angry with me. He has lovingly and patiently put up with my foolishness.
Today I give thanks because He is good. He is kind. His mercy endures forever. He is my God.
I challenge you to rethink much of the garbage you might have in your head and heart. See what the Bible says about God. Decide who He is and what He is like based on the Word not people.