Thank You Notes – Reflections on Thanksgiving

The word thanksgiving appears in a number of the Psalms.  One of them is Psalm 100.
“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before him, singing with joy. Acknowledge that the Lord is God! He made us, and we are his. We are his people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter his gates with thanksgiving; go into his courts with praise. Give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good. His unfailing love continues forever, and his faithfulness continues to each generation” (vv. 1-5).
Psalm 100 is a Psalm of thanksgiving. More precisely, Psalm 100 is considered a hymn (a song) of thanksgiving to be sung by a choir. So, why Psalm 100 to help us reflect on marriage?
Psalm 100 reminds us of important truths about God. More importantly, those truths can make a huge difference in your journey as a married couple.  One of the first truths the Psalmist states is the Lord is God (v. 3). Sometimes, my (our) temptation is to feel that we can face whatever tribulation that might come our way based on life experience. Or, perhaps, we think we can make it based on our strength.  I believe when the Psalmist says he knows that the Lord is God, he is saying that, in thanksgiving, he relies on who God is and what He can do. The Psalmist seems to remind himself and others how incapable and fragile he is (we are). More importantly, he seems to remind himself how infinitely and incomprehensibly powerful God is. Therefore, he relies on God’s greatness instead of his strength and/or ability.
Also, the Psalmist makes another powerful statement when he says that God is the creator (it is he that made us) (v. 3). He is saying that God is the one who knows us from the inside out. He is the God Creator (Elohim). No matter how broken the Psalmist’s life seems to be, he recognizes that God is still in the business of creating something new. Again, Psalm 100 does not talk about marriage but there sure are moments when everything seems to be broken in our lives.  But, remember! God is the Creator (Elohim) and He can transform the broken pieces of relationship into a beautiful mosaic.
The Psalmist says we are his people (v. 3). In thanksgiving, the Psalmist reminds himself that no matter how much he messes up, God will never let him go. God will never forsake him. No matter how badly you might feel you messed up, God will never give up on you.
In thanksgiving, the Psalmist affirms a rather simple yet profound truth, The Lord is good… (v.5). The Psalmist implies that God does not operate like human beings do. Sometimes, we do good things. But sometimes we get upset and decide not to be good anymore. That is not how God operates. Part of the very essence of God is that He is good. That, my friends, never changes.
God’s goodness is not defined by circumstances in life. It is not that God is good one time but not another. His goodness reaches beyond our immediate needs. The apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans put it this way, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him…” Romans 8:28….