4 Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise: Be thankful unto Him, and bless His Name. 5 For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting; And His truth endureth to all generations. ~ Psalms 100:4-5 (KJV)
One of the most repeated lines in the entire Bible is “Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His steadfast love endures forever,” or some variation of it. It appears over 30 times in the Old Testament alone—more than almost any other refrain. That tells us something: God wants this truth drilled deep into our souls, one for every day of the month… it would seem.
It is a major biblical theme that teaches that God is always good in all circumstances and that His goodness calls His people to respond with a heart of thanksgiving. Neither God’s love nor His goodness is based on any circumstances, nor on our behavior, nor on our emotions. God’s steadfast love and His enduring goodness are a part of His own Character.
God’s character is perfectly consistent. He cannot act contrary to His own nature because His integrity, His mercy, and His faithfulness are all absolute. Therefore, even if people fall away, God’s plans and purposes remain intact. God is unchanging, immutable, and cannot contradict His own essence.
Think about that for a moment. The eternal, all-powerful God—who said, “Let there be light,” and there was light, and that light has never stopped shining, who holds every atom together by the word of His power—chooses to be good to us – to you and to me. Not because we deserve it. Not because we earned it, but because goodness is who He is.
When the sun rises tomorrow morning, it will rise because God is faithful. When your heart beats another 80,000 times today without you even thinking about it, that is God being good. When you woke up this morning and your family was still safe under your roof, that is God’s mercy on display.
Thankfulness is not an optional emotion for the Christian—it is the only rational response to a God who is this good all the time. The Bible commands… encourages… and prompts us to be thankful. And when we begin to truly think about all that God has done for us, how can we be anything but thankful.
Peace. Love. Go Forth and Let Thanksgiving Be Your Default.