A Hymn of Thanksgiving

“Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.  Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.  For the Lord is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.”  Psalm 100 NKJV

As we enter into this Thanksgiving season, the words of Psalm 100 lift our minds to our Creator and God. All the bountiful blessings we have received come from the hand of our Almighty God. As I watch the combines rolling through the harvest fields, I am reminded that the harvest is a miracle of God. We cannot explain how a dead seed brings forth new life and multiplies itself many times over. It is God who brings new life out of the dead kernel. It is God who sends the sunshine and the rain that brings the crop to fullness. And to think, that He does all this to provide for His creatures.

As we turn our attention to the spiritual life we find the same miracle taking place. God takes a dead shell of a person and fills him or her with new life. He creates within us a desire to be with Him. He then sends the Son of Righteousness and the Rain of the Spirit to bring about a transformation in our lives to recreate us in His image. He does all this because He wants to be in relationship with us throughout eternity. As we contemplate the incredible power of the love of God we lift up our voices in thanksgiving with the apostle Paul as he proclaims, “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!.... For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen.”  Rom 11:33-36 NKJV

~Pastor Jeremiah