Word for Word 11/23/16

“Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good. For His mercy endureth forever”  (Psalm 106:1).

How appropriate it is for us say these words of the Psalmist as we sit down to eat a meal. It is an acknowledgment that the food we are about to eat is a gift from God. Even though we work hard to earn money to buy the food we eat, yet in the end it is God who gives us our daily bread. The money we earn is only the means that God has given us to purchase our food.

There are many people in the world today who work much harder than we do and receive much less for their work. In his farewell address Moses said to the Israelites as they were about to enter the land flowing with milk and honey: “You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth.” (Deut 8:17-18).

The Bible tells us that we should be satisfied if we have food and clothing and place to live, the necessities of life. St Paul writes: “Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread” (1 Tim 6:8). And King Solomon says: “But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (Prov 30:8.) And so when we consider all that we have in America, we have all the more reason to give thanks to God. We have so much more than food, clothing and shelter.

And so, during this Thanksgiving season we are once again reminded of our sins. No doubt there have been times when we have taken our many blessings for granted. Or even worse, we have given ourselves and our hard work the credit for what we have, instead of giving God the credit.

But the good news is that we have forgiveness for these sins too. We have forgiveness because Jesus took the guilt of all our sin on Himself and on the cross God punished Him in our place. In Jesus we have forgiveness for every, single, one of our sins. Forgiveness that is ours to claim as a free gift by faith alone. And because of that, we can be truly thankful to our God both for His forgiving grace and also for the many material blessings He has showered on us.

In view of His kindness to us in America, we can say with Psalmist: “Oh give thanks unto the Lord for He is good. For His mercy endureth forever.”

Rev. Ron Pederson
King of Grace Lutheran Church, Waukon