Thankful

THANKSGIVING!  I love this holiday of food – family – fun, and football – a set time to pause and ponder thankfulness.  There are seasons that may be difficult to pull forward on the shelf of our life, wondering if there is something – anything to be thankful for?  We may have lost a job or a loved one, or our bank account matches our emotional bucket of strength – empty.  Yet there IS something to be thankful for, we indeed have the reason for thankfulness!  The great Psalm of thanks opens with, “Give thanks to the LORD for He is good…” (Psalm 136)  That alone is enough.

“Give thanks to the LORD for He is good. His love endures forever…”  The author found it needful to repeat ‘His love endures forever’ 26 times throughout the Psalm.  This Hebrew word love is ‘hesed’ (a guttural, ‘H-said’ )  we know it biblically as mercy, goodness, loyalty, steadfast love and even grace.  What a pivotal word, a pivotal attribute all rolled up and woven into one magnificent GOD!  The Psalms poetically describe His lovingkindness as precious (36:7) marvelous (17:7) undeserving (103) abounding (86:5) reviving (119:159) satisfying (90:14) and everlasting (103:17).  Are we thankful yet?

King David’s well known and beloved Psalm 23 (verse 6) “Surely goodness and MERCY (hesed) will follow me all the days of my life.” David writes this at the end of his life, he once the shepherd – has now and is being shepherded.   This ‘follow’ is not a mere tag along behind, but PURSUIT! The Shepherding God’s unending – steadfast love full of mercy pursued David. That same mercy, the same goodness pursues us, pursues YOU!  He is unrelenting.  The divine love of God is steady – sure – persistent and FULL of refusal to let go.  Aren’t you glad He does not let go!  (Thankful!)

As we share around the table amongst the declarations of health and love of family, and a few glee-filled shouts of  “TOUCHDOWN!”  may we ‘Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good.  His love endures forever!’

Thanksgiving.

In Him, DeDe (“Let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love & good deeds.” – Hebrews 10:24)