Give thanks to the Lord
The Psalms were Israel's songbook, and thanksgiving runs all through them, sung to the God whose mercy endures forever.
Psalm 100:4 to 5 (KJV)
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
Many families read this psalm at the Thanksgiving table. Thanks is how we walk in, and the reason follows right away: the Lord is good, and His mercy never runs out.
Psalm 107:1 (KJV)
O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Psalm 107 goes on to tell of wanderers, prisoners, the sick and sailors in a storm, each one crying out and each one brought through. Every one of those stories starts with this line.
Psalm 95:2 (KJV)
Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
Thanksgiving is how we come into God's presence, and the psalm says to do it out loud. A joyful noise counts, even off key.
Psalm 92:1 (KJV)
It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises unto thy name, O most High:
This psalm was written as a song for the sabbath day. Giving thanks is called a good thing, a way to rest in what God has already done.
Psalm 9:1 (KJV)
I will praise thee, O LORD, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvellous works.
David decides to praise with his whole heart and to tell what God has done. Gratitude grows when we name the specific things out loud.
Psalm 28:7 (KJV)
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusted in him, and I am helped: therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth; and with my song will I praise him.
David opens this psalm begging God not to be silent (Psalm 28:1) and closes it with a song. The trust comes first, then the help, then the thanks.
Psalm 30:12 (KJV)
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
Psalm 30 remembers a night of weeping and a morning of joy (Psalm 30:5). David's answer to that morning is to give thanks for ever, and never keep quiet about it.
Psalm 69:30 (KJV)
I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
Most of Psalm 69 is a cry from deep water. One verse before this promise, David still calls himself poor and sorrowful (Psalm 69:29), and he gives thanks anyway.
Psalm 103:2 (KJV)
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Forgetting is easy, so David talks to his own soul. The next verses list what not to forget: sins forgiven, diseases healed, a life redeemed, lovingkindness and tender mercies.
Psalm 147:7 (KJV)
Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God:
Psalm 147 thanks God for healing the broken in heart (Psalm 147:3) and for the rain that makes grass grow on the mountains (Psalm 147:8). The big things and the small ones are all His.
Thankful in every season
Paul wrote about giving thanks from a prison cell, and Habakkuk gave thanks over empty fields, so these verses are for the good years and the hard ones.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 (KJV)
In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
Paul says in every thing, not for every thing. You don't have to be thankful for a loss to give thanks in the middle of it, because God is still with you there.
Philippians 4:6 to 7 (KJV)
Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
“Be careful for nothing” is old English for “don't be anxious about anything.” Paul puts thanksgiving beside every request, and God's peace keeps watch over the heart.
Colossians 3:15 to 17 (KJV)
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
Paul ties thankfulness to the peace that rules the heart, to singing together and to everything we do, in word or deed. Gratitude is meant to fill an ordinary day.
Ephesians 5:20 (KJV)
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
Always, for all things, in Jesus' name. It is a big ask, and Paul wrote this letter as a prisoner (Ephesians 3:1), so he asked it of himself first.
Colossians 2:6 to 7 (KJV)
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
A tree with deep roots keeps standing in the wind. A life rooted in Christ, Paul says, overflows with thanksgiving like a river over its banks.
Colossians 4:2 (KJV)
Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving;
Keep praying, keep watching, keep thanking. Gratitude keeps us awake to what God is already doing while we wait for what we've asked.
Philippians 4:11 to 12 (KJV)
Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need.
Paul had known full and hungry, plenty and need. Contentment wasn't his personality; he says he learned it.
Habakkuk 3:17 to 18 (KJV)
Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
No figs, no grapes, no olives, no flock. Habakkuk lists everything that is gone and then says “yet.” Thanksgiving in a hard year sounds a lot like that word.
Daniel 6:10 (KJV)
Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went into his house; and his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before his God, as he did aforetime.
Daniel knew the law against praying to anyone but the king had been signed, and he went home and gave thanks anyway, as he always had. Gratitude was his habit long before it was his courage.
Thanks for daily bread and for each other
Jesus gave thanks before He broke bread, and Paul thanked God for the people he loved, so these verses fit a meal and the faces around it.
Deuteronomy 8:10 (KJV)
When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
Moses warned that a full plate makes it easy to forget God (Deuteronomy 8:11 to 14). His answer was to bless God right when you are full.
Psalm 145:15 to 16 (KJV)
The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.
Every creature waits on God for its food, and He opens His hand. These lines have been a table grace in many homes for a long time.
Matthew 6:11 (KJV)
Give us this day our daily bread.
Jesus teaches us to ask for bread one day at a time. Every meal on the table is today's answer to that prayer.
John 6:11 (KJV)
And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
Five barley loaves and two small fish could never feed that crowd, and Jesus gave thanks for them anyway, before the miracle. Thanks for the little comes first.
Acts 27:35 (KJV)
And when he had thus spoken, he took bread, and gave thanks to God in presence of them all: and when he had broken it, he began to eat.
Paul was on a ship that had been lost in a storm for fourteen days, with 276 people aboard (Acts 27:37). He gave thanks for bread in front of all of them, and they took heart and ate.
Acts 2:46 to 47 (KJV)
And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.
The first church ate together in their homes with glad and sincere hearts. A shared table was one of the first signs of the new family Jesus was making.
1 Timothy 4:4 to 5 (KJV)
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Food is a gift to receive, not a thing to fear. Thanks and prayer set an ordinary meal apart for God.
James 1:17 (KJV)
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.
Every good gift on the table, and around it, comes from the Father of lights. The gifts change from year to year; the Giver doesn't.
Philippians 1:3 (KJV)
I thank my God upon every remembrance of you,
Paul thanked God every time he remembered his friends in Philippi. Who comes to mind for you this year? Thank God for them by name.
1 Thessalonians 1:2 (KJV)
We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers;
Paul's prayers were full of names. Tell someone this week that you thank God for them; it may be the kindest thing they hear all year.
Short verses for cards and place cards
Each of these is under 100 characters, short enough for a place card, a card or a text. Copy it word for word and keep the reference with it.
O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.
From the song of thanks David gave the day the ark came home to Jerusalem (1 Chronicles 16:7).
This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
For the morning of the holiday, or the place card at the head of the table.
O give thanks unto the God of heaven: for his mercy endureth for ever.
The last line of a psalm that says “for his mercy endureth for ever” in every verse.
Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.
Paul's thank you for Jesus Himself, a gift words can't hold. Lovely tucked into a gift.
The LORD hath done great things for us; whereof we are glad.
Sung by people coming home from exile (Psalm 126:1), for a year when God brought you through.
O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
An invitation that suits a feast. Try it on the place card by the pie.
What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
A question to ask before the meal. The next verse answers it: take the cup of salvation and call on His name.
Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.
A harvest psalm. “Fatness” is old English for abundance, so it suits the end of a full year.
But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul's thanks for victory over death itself, a gentle choice for someone grieving this season.
For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness.
For the hungry in body and in soul. It fits a food drive or a shared meal.
The one who came back
Ten men were healed on the road, and one turned around to say thank you.
Luke 17:11 to 19 (KJV)
And it came to pass, as he went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: And they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, And fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.
Ten men called to Jesus from a distance, and all ten did exactly what He told them. They were healed on the way. Nine kept walking. They weren't bad men; they had somewhere to be.
One turned around. He was a Samaritan, an outsider twice over, and he came back shouting praise and fell at Jesus' feet to say thank you. All ten were cleansed. To the one who came back, Jesus said more: “thy faith hath made thee whole.”
Gratitude is a U turn. Before you eat this Thursday, turn around for a moment: thank God out loud for one specific thing from this year, then thank one person at the table by name.
From the Sunday Letter
The free Sunday Letter brings a verse, a short devotional and a prayer every Sunday. The letter of , the Sunday before Thanksgiving, tells the story above: ten were healed, and one came back.
Every Sunday. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy Policy