Psalm 136
“O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” Psalm 136:1
As I write this blog post it is about 1 week until Thanksgiving. A holiday set aside by this great country to take time and give thanks to God for blessings that He has bestowed upon us. The first national recognition of Thanksgiving was in 1789 by President George Washington. However, it did not become a regular national holiday until 1863 by President Abraham Lincoln.
Thanksgiving is the start of the best time of year. It ushers in the time of year that seems to help us refocus our attention onto the more important things in life. The holiday season, although very commercialized these days, does seem to bring more concern for others to the world.
The Bible tells us to give thanks to God. It tells us that He is good. But, what I like is the part where it tells us that His mercy endures forever. What is mercy? Mercy by definition is when we are not given what we deserve.
Day in and day out we violate God’s moral law. We are constantly sinning against God. We deserve the punishment of eternal hell according to God’s law. But mercy. God has every right to send us straight to hell. He could wipe us all out and be done with us. But He doesn’t. He is merciful. In fact, if you are a child of His, He not only doesn’t give us what we deserve, but He actually sees you as perfect. When it comes to His children, God wears rose colored glasses. Glasses that are the shade of the blood of Christ. When God sees you, He sees Christ. He sees perfection. God is like those annoying friends that we all have who think their first child is perfect and everybody else should think so also. You know you roll your eyes at those friends. But that is exactly how God sees you. The blood of Christ has made you perfect in the eyes of God. By His mercy, His view of you will never change. His mercy endures forever. For this one fact, we should give thanks to God every second of every day.