“Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountain. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.” — Psalm 147:7-9
Some time ago I was “dining” at MacDonald’s when two young women came and occupied the booth next to me. As they prepared to eat their “fast food,” they bowed their heads and one of them prayed aloud to thank the Lord for the food they were about to eat, asking His blessing upon it and upon themselves. It was a simple, yet powerful act as they identified themselves not only before Him, but before the watching world. Once upon a time that kind of thing was not altogether uncommon in our society, but no more. Now it is a great rarity.
When one is taught to trace his origin to mindless chance and aimless evolution, God is not in all his thoughts. If there is “nobody there,” there is no need to give thanks to anyone for anything. Relating to a co-worker recently my own experience of God’s goodness and miraculous provision for our family over our years in the ministry and beyond, he said with a touch of bitterness (though a professing Christian) “Nobody ever gave me anything! I’m fairly well off, but I’ve had to work hard for everything I’ve gotten.” How sad. And how blind!
Who provides the sunshine and the rain to make things grow? Who designed and made the glorious mechanisms that sustain life on the planet? Who gives a man strength for the day so that he is able to work? In the Old Testament, in a passage we looked at just a few weeks ago, God instructed Israel, “…thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is He that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. [Deut. 8:18-19].” “Natural resources” are ever dependent upon the supernatural resources of the eternal God Who made all in the beginning and maintains all in the present.
And in the New Testament the Lord Jesus Christ said, in what could be a kind of echo of our text for today, “Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows [Luke 12:6-7].” His inference is that it is God Who supplies the need of the insignificant sparrow and of mankind as well, even as David here attributes the order of nature not to unguided chance, but to a wise and gracious God Who is considerate of even the beast and the young ravens, to say nothing of mankind. Elsewhere the Psalmist declares,”Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing [Ps. 145:16].” The apostle Paul assures believers in particular, “My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus [Phil 4:19].” And the apostle James admonishes, “Do not err, my beloved brethren,” recognizing that “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning [James 1:16-17]”.
Given this great truth, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ are especially relevant: “Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof [Matt. 6:26-34].”
God will take care of you. Sing unto Him with THANKSGIVING!
“Praise is comely for the upright,”
"Pastor" Frasier
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