What does it mean to give thanks to God? Commonly, we give thanks to someone who has done something for us. Thanksgiving acknowledges a person for acting in a positive way. Psalm 136 v 5, reads, "Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skilfully." Our thanks acknowledges God's action in creation and gives him appropriate credit. Yet the use of "give thanks" in Psalm 136 goes beyond our ordinary sense of thanksgiving. Consider the psalm's first verse, for example: "Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever." Though one might rightly note that God's goodness and faithful love are communicated through his actions, this verse doesn't specifically connect thanksgiving to what God has done but to who God is. We are to give thanks not just because God has done good things for us, but because God is good.
Thus, Psalm 136 takes us beyond thanksgiving to a deeper acknowledgement of not only God's actions but also of God's nature and acknowledge someone when that person does something good for you. It has the sense of speaking out what is true. Thus, beyond saying "thank you" to God when God blesses us, we are to confess his goodness, his grace, his beauty, his grandeur. Thanksgiving often leads us to deeper praise. When we think of what God has done for us, we cannot hold back our gratitude. Being grateful also makes us happier and healthier and also helps us to see more blessings. Did you notice the blue sky? the flowers and trees, the breeze on a hot day? There are so many beautiful things to be grateful for and as we practice being grateful to our loving God, we will notice his creation more and more.
