Thankfulness can be an easy thing to express but much more difficult to embody. We say, “Thank you,” to someone who has just done something for us, but do we mean it, or is it simply a polite courtesy hiding rather ungrateful thoughts?
Thankfulness is a matter of the heart, and that is why we struggle to be thankful. Our sinful nature inherited from Adam constantly directs us to feel entitled to other people’s actions and attention. It is true that people can take advantage and work an angle to get their way—this too is the work of sin in our lives—but the struggle with thankfulness is more often inward than outward. We think we are deserving; we think we are owed. Sadly, sin would have us believe the same in our relationship with the Creator God. The holy God owes us nothing except judgment for our sin, yet He freely offers His love, mercy, and grace to us undeserving sinners because He paid the cost for our sin Himself.
This post is adapted from “A Song of Thanksgiving” by Daniel Davis, published in The Gospel Project for Adults, Fall 2017: Jesus Saves. Photo via Freely Photos.
Thankfulness Leads to Mission
Isaiah 12 comes at the end of a lengthy section in the Book of Isaiah comprising the first 11 chapters. Preceding this passage, the Lord has indicted His chosen people for their idolatry and rebellion against Him. He was angry with them for turning their backs on Him, the One who brought them out of slavery in Egypt and settled them in His promised land. His judgment was coming in the form of the nations of Assyria and Babylon, and it would be severe. War, siege, death, and exile. But even in the midst of His anger, the Lord pronounced a day of mercy and grace and redemption for His people, which would result in the giving of thanks. The Lord has shown His mercy and comfort to His people. We then love, encourage, and comfort one another with the love, encouragement, and comfort that we have received from God. But if the joy of our salvation stops there with the community of the redeemed, then we are short-circuiting the full purpose of that community. We don’t gather to stay; we gather to encourage one another to go with a message for the world.God’s Works are Glorious Things
In Isaiah 12:1, the individual gives thanks to God for His salvation, but here the saved individuals gathering together are encouraging one another to give thanks to God and publicly honor His name. The picture of praise in this chapter flows like this: I thank the Lord that He has saved me! Hey, you are here with me, so you have been saved too. Thank the Lord that He saved you! But the praise of God can’t stop there. This salvation from God is so great, gracious, and kind that everyone needs to hear about it, so let’s go tell more people, even those who haven’t heard about our God and His salvation! God’s salvation and all the countless “works” of God are the “glorious things” He had done for His people throughout the Old Testament (Isa. 12:4-5). These things the people were to tell about to the other peoples of the earth because praise for the one true God by nature radiates out to the ends of the earth, since He made the earth and everything in it.God’s Son is More Glorious Still
As glorious as all of God’s works in the Old Testament are, according to His own Word, they pale in comparison to the glory of the Son of God coming into the earth in order to die for the sins of the world and give salvation as a gift to those who believe in Him (Heb. 1:1-3). If we are saved in Christ, it is because others who experienced His salvation decided to go and make known His glorious works. And if we are to worship Jesus rightly, then we must go into all the world and make known His glorious works in our own lives (Matt. 28:18-20). According to the pattern of thanksgiving and praise for salvation in Isaiah 12, worship must lead to evangelism. Isaiah 12 looks forward to a day when God has set all things right. With the first coming of Christ, the Lord has begun this process. Along with the whole community of the redeemed, we should sing the praises of the Lord and proclaim His greatness and salvation to the nations so they too may share in His salvation and in His praise.Thanks to the Lord—and a Hope for Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving to the Lord should be offered moment by moment, day by day, year after year because “God is my salvation” (Isa. 12:2). Though He hates our sin, He has shown mercy and comfort to sinners who find their refuge in Him. If you are one of the redeemed in Christ, then thank the Lord, sing His praises, and proclaim His greatness in all the earth. If you are numbered among the enemies of God, know that God will have His final “Day” of punishment for sin. This will be a day of dread for sinners, but the Lord has also established a “Day” in which salvation can be found in Christ, and that is today (2 Cor. 6:2). Today! Turn from your sin; turn to Christ; then you too can give thanks to Him and sing, “God is my salvation!”This post is adapted from “A Song of Thanksgiving” by Daniel Davis, published in The Gospel Project for Adults, Fall 2017: Jesus Saves. Photo via Freely Photos.