The Reason for Giving Thanks
The goodness of God is the basis of all thanksgiving unto God, and the reason for thanksgiving is found, not in outward circumstances, but in the character of God; and inasmuch as the character of God is always the same, whether seasons be fruitful or unfruitful, whether outward circumstances be favorable or unfavorable, there is always a good reason for giving thanks unto God at all times. “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good.” And this goodness of God, and this character of God, are shown in what God does; and so the psalmist says, “Thou art good, and doest good.” And so at all times, in all places, under all circumstances, we may always respond to the exhortation, “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good.” Because whatever is, he does good. And the goodness of God and the character of God are not to be measured, are not to be decided upon, by our human judgment, but by his own statement of his own character and goodness. And so, whether it seems so to us or not, whether the outward circumstances would indicate to us from our standpoint of judgment, that there was reason for thanksgiving, yet we can always find the true reason for thanksgiving, under all circumstances, in all places, in the very nature of the character of God. O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good, and does good. Further: to those who believe in God, all that he does they will count good, whether or not it appears from the human standpoint to be good; those who believe in God will always find a foundation for thanksgiving in what God does, because he does only good, and those who believe in God will say so. And so we find the seventy-third Psalm opening in this way, “Only God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart.” Not simply the general statement of God’s goodness, and that he5does good; but now, “Only God is good to Israel.” Every true Israelite, every true child of God, every one who has learned to know for himself the character of God, will never hesitate to say, under all circumstances, in all places, “Only God is good to Israel.” Now as for the way in which this goodness of God is shown, and with which we may connect the thought of his goodness, we read the experience of the apostle Paul and of his fellow worker Barnabas, when they preached among the heathen, and after they had healed the lame man at Lystra, as recorded in the fourteenth chapter of Acts, eleventh verse: “And when the people saw what Paul had done, they lifted up their voices, saying in the speech of Lycaonia, The gods are come down to us in the likeness of men. And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker. Then the priest of Jupiter, which was before their city, brought oxen and garlands unto the gates, and would have done sacrifice with the people. Which when the apostles, Barnabas and Paul, heard of, they rent their clothes, and ran in among the people, crying out, and saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Every fruitful season, then, is a testimony, an outward testimony, to the goodness of God. Mark, a barren season is not a testimony against the goodness of God. Note the difference. And yet a fruitful season is a testimony for the goodness of God; and his filling our hearts with food and gladness, is his testimony to us and to all men that he has not left himself without witness in that he supplies the wants of his creatures. It is because we are so far separated from the direct working of God in supplying these things to us, and because our conditions have become so artificial, that, instead of receiving these things, as it were, directly from the hand of God, we receive them under the forced, artificial conditions of civilization, until we are apt to forget that the fruitful season is a testimony to the goodness of God. Nevertheless so it is, one of God’s established testimonies as to his character, as to his goodness. And further, the fruitful season, the gift of God unto his creatures, is based upon another gift of his goodness, which we ought also to recognize in every other gift flowing to us as the result of it. When he gave his Son to the world, he was in that gift testifying not only to his creatures here upon the earth, but unto all the universe, that God is good; and his Son, who came in the likeness of our flesh, testified unto the character of God that he is good. He did this both by word of mouth and also by the works that he wrought. And the purpose of God in this gift is that we might share with him in that goodness of character; as Jesus, God’s gift in the flesh,—the same flesh that we bear,—went about doing good, and thus was in himself a testimony that God is good, so the purpose of that gift was not merely to show that God is good, but to make provision also that we might be able to share in that very goodness of character which is the foundation of our thanksgiving unto God. And so we have the statement made in the epistle to the Hebrews, thirteenth chapter, verses 20 and 21: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ.” This is a different statement, a different wording of the thought that is given unto us in the second chapter of the epistle to the Ephesians, where we are told that our salvation is “not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.” This scripture in the thirteenth chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews emphasizes especially how that result is to be brought about: “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,”—resurrection power,—just according to the word of the apostle Paul when he says that God would have us know “what is the exceeding greatness of his power . . . which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand . . . far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, . . . and gave him to be head over all things to the church, which is his body.” Resurrection power is guaranteed unto every believer in the gift of God’s goodness, in order that the good works which God hath before ordained should be wrought out, in and through the believer, “through the blood of the everlasting covenant,” to “make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight.” This is Christianity; this is God’s provision that the goodness of character, that the goodness of God which leads us to repentance for sin, that the goodness of God which, being revealed to us, draws us toward him with earnest desire, that the goodness of God which is revealed to us in the gift of his Son Jesus, and the goodness of God shown in the death of his Son as the atoning sacrifice for sin, that goodness which rouses our hearts unto a hatred of that which is sin,—that by all this we are drawn directly to God, and have an earnest longing of soul that in us may be revealed the goodness of God through the blood of the everlasting covenant. That is Christianity; that is God’s provision for salvation. Now, it is a wonderful lesson to learn as a matter of experience, that God is good. When the sun shines clearly, no clouds seem to hide the light, outward circumstances are favorable, and the heart is glad and joyous, then it is a simple thing to let the words slip out between the lips, God is good. But when the sun is under a cloud, and when the heavens seem like brass over one’s head, and when outward circumstances seem to indicate anything else except that God is good, then, for one chastened still to be able to say, even though it be through the tears of his suffering, God is good,—it is a wonderful lesson to learn. When our family circles are unbroken, and everything about us seems to us so favorable, we look upon friends, children in our home circle, it is easy for us to say then, God is good. But when disease fastens its hand upon one of the number, and we see the suffering that comes from it; and when, although we pray, although we use all the means that God has revealed to us as means of restoration, yet we see that the life is ebbing out day by day; and then we are called to stand by the side of the form from which the life has entirely gone, and we follow one to the long home, then to be able to say that God is good, then to be able to take up the words of the psalmist, and say, “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever;” and to be able to say then, “Only God is good to Israel, to such as are of a pure heart,”—then we know whether we know God or not. Then we know whether we know Christianity or not. Then we know whether our confidence is yet placed in a God near at hand and not afar off, whose help is very accessible in time of need. Then we know whether we have learned how to come unto a throne of grace where dwells our God, and call upon him for help, and receive help from him in time of need, because we still believe that God is good. “O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so.”