Ps 106:1 Praise the LORD!  Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Many of you are like me, in that over the years you’ve come to thank God throughout the year and not just the last Thursday in November.  Yet I cannot help but have an increased sense of thankfulness during this time of the year.  The text states to Praise the LORD. This Hebrew word for Praise in this text is hallal (to praise, to make a show or rave about, to glory in or boast upon, to be clamorously foolish about your adoration of God).  David is telling us to brag or rave about our adoration for our Lord Jesus.

We live in a time where not everyone is necessarily excited about life and many feel like they don’t have anything to be thankful for.  So let’s look at David’s Psalm again to determine just why he was so exuberant in his praise. Oh, give thanks to the LORD, here’s why we do need to give thanks:

1.  God Is So Good– for He is good!  We have heard this saying many times: “God is good, all the time & all the time God is good.”  Although this statement is often over used out of tradition rather than sincerity, it may be the truest statement ever made.  God is indeed good!  This Hebrew word towb is defined by about 40 different English words that ultimately mean excellent.  The Lord is excellent.  We should give thanks for the fact that our Lord Jesus is excellent, because all our righteousness are like filthy rags (Isa 64:6) and we were in desperate need of an excellent sacrifice.  A sacrifice that would cover all of our sins…forever.  Yet, what we got was exceedingly abundantly above all that we could ever need.  Jesus is perfect making Him the only one that could be sacrificed to cover every one of our sins, but even more than that He became our GOOD friend, who walks with us every day and is concerned about our every need. We are able to happily give thanks this week because Jesus is “GOOD.”

2.  God Is Full Of Mercy– For His mercy endures forever. The term mercy used here means goodness, kindness, faithfulness, compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender or an enemy.  So God’s compassion and kindly forbearance toward each of us endures forever. We can be thankful because God’s mercy for us is in it for the long haul; David said that it endures (last long, holds out, without yielding, patiently waits and loves without judgment).  God has been merciful with each one of us.  The fact is we deserve death but we have a loving God who is so (patient, long suffering, kind & gentle) to us that He gave our judgment to His only begotten Son.  We are able to happily give thanks this week because Jesus is full of “MERCY.”

Conclusion:  I can only close with David’s words; Praise the LORD!  Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. And while you’re doing that, have a GREAT THANKSGIVING!!!