Being Thankful to God

HTS President, Dr. Maynard Koerner

The idea of thankfulness is a fairly common idea for us. We teach our children to say thank you when someone gives or does something. It is a standard part of how we deal with each other in society. There is a complete culture with respect to Thanksgiving Day for Americans. Even though it has become pretty much a secular day, with family activity and for some football, for some shopping. Aside from these things it is also something of a forgotten day in that we tend to go from Halloween to Christmas and skip right over Thanksgiving Day.

To set aside a special time for giving thanks is rooted in a biblical concept of recognizing the hand of God in the things that we have. We, of course know the story of the Pilgrims and how they recognized God in their survival in this
primitive land.

It is also very much a part of our faith. The entire third part of the Heidelberg Catechism deals with thankfulness. That is, the response of true believers is to be thankful to God by how we live. So being thankful is a very important part of our life, especially as Christians.

Yet if someone would ask you why? Why do you go through this thing called “a special day of thanksgiving to God”? What would you say? Could you give a good explanation of why we take a special time of being thankful, and what is the connection with Thanksgiving Day and worship?

As a way to answer these questions I would like to reflect with you on the words of Psalm 111 which is one of the Psalms ofthanksgiving. The psalmist calls us to remember the works of God. To remember His works is to also remember who God is. When we remember what God has done and who He is we have a desire to worship Him.

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