Worshiping the Lord with Gladness

Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations (Psalm 100).
We all look forward to celebrating a treasured American tradition each November. It is the time of our annual Thanksgiving celebration. As we meet around the Thanksgiving dinner table, we have a natural reason to thank the Lord as we meet. While many conversations center on the latest events—travel, weather, food, the latest on the kids, which store to hit for Black Friday—the reality is there is great abundance right before our eyes.  It is seen in our families, our friends, and on the tables around which we gather.
Often the things we take for granted each day are the most precious gifts of all, that of our families, as colorful and as diverse as they may be. But let us not forget the most important acknowledgement that has been encouraged as we observe this national holiday. It is a recognition of those all-encompassing words of the psalmist, “It is He who made us, and we are His” (v. 3).
Thanksgiving is a great time to consider our blessings from the Lord under that very familiar Fourth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, where we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” We should give thanks daily, because that petition is more often than not fulfilled even before we pray it. In this petition, we confess, “God certainly gives daily bread without our prayer, even to all the wicked; but we pray in this petition that He would lead us to acknowledge this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” Table prayers, special blessings, folding our hands as we bow our heads in prayer, all are there to help us remember to “receive our daily bread with thanksgiving!”
The question is, do we know what is meant by “our daily bread?” Or in other words, do we know that for which we should and ought to be giving thanks? As we look around the table at our family gatherings much is self-explanatory. We see here and in many other ways: “Daily bread includes everything needed for this life; such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, fields, cattle, money, goods, God-fearing spouse and children, faithful servants [workers] and rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, order, honor, true friends, good neighbors, and the like” (Luther’s Small Catechism, ELH, p. 33).
What are our basic “daily” needs? Food, drink, clothing, place to live, a means of making a living, and those things that make for a peaceful home and worship life. Certainly among these are “god-fearing spouse and children, faithful workers and the like.” Who of us was not concerned this month with the exercise of our civil right and privilege of choosing our leaders, knowing the importance of good government? What time are we not concerned about whether we are getting seasonable weather? Who of us would not love to live in peace and have a goodly measure of health, etc.? All of these things we ask for and long for. Yet when we do have them, we often take them for granted and are not always thankful.
As the psalmist by inspiration of the Holy Spirit pens this beautiful psalm, he is calling us to worship and to worship with a thankful heart. Be thankful for a place we call our church, the place where we gather to hear God’s saving Word. Here we gather to be built up in our faith through the blessed means God provides for the feeding of our souls. This is something we must never, ever take for granted. Our place of worship is something precious in God’s sight for it is here that we gather to honor and thank our God, not just once a year, but weekly, perhaps daily. Yet who of us would dare to only thank God one day a week while He graciously provides for us seven days a week? At the same time, ought we not take our rest from the hustle and bustle of the world in order to honor our God for yet another year, week, day of being cared for? The answer to this is given by the psalmist,
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; Give thanks to him and praise his name.
Why?
For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations.
The object of this enduring love is you. It is to you He chooses to express His love in providing your daily bread. While many would say that is all we need, there is more. God knows better. He provides for our eternal good. His ever-enduring love (promised love) caused Him to send His beloved Son to be our Savior. He alone is able to save us from the just punishment we deserved for our sins, not the least of which is often ingratitude.
It was the sending of a Savior from sin and sin’s just punishment that fully explains this love that endures forever. It was Jesus who came and lived a perfect and holy live under the Law in your place. God credits His righteous and holy life to you, the sinner. While the remaining barrier to your eternal good was sin, God the Father placed the entirety of sin’s debt on Jesus as He bore sin’s punishment on the cross. With the righteousness we need before God obtained and the punishment our sin deserved removed by the blood of Christ, we are called by the Gospel to faith in the Son of God and the salvation He brings. In this forgiveness, we are loved and we in turn confess and follow this savior God.
May our Thanksgiving be more than lip service for all the blessings we have, and may it be more than just a gathering for pleasant conversation on material things. Rather, may our conversation include the One who gives us all; not the least of all is His Son, in whose name we gather to worship. May our offerings this Thanksgiving reflect a true response of gratitude to the God who provides our daily bread. Then our thanksgiving will be sounded like that of the psalmist as we raise our voices in praise to a precious provider and savior God who has given us all.  As the psalmist reminds us, “For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (v. 5, emphasis added).
Daniel Basel is the ELS Giving Counselor and lives in Mankato, Minnesota.