by Henry Knapp
November is normally a good time to think of giving thanks—the predominance of Thanksgiving at the end of the month tends to shape things in a thankful way. Normally, that is. Of course, we are not in normal circumstances. In the midst of a pandemic, during troubled social times, amid a contentious political season, while we are separated from one another, and even our worship looks different, it is not normal, and our usual response of thanksgiving may not come so easily.
A challenge in discipleship is helping people to distinguish between praise and thanksgiving. Both are proper and necessary for the Christian—we are to praise our Lord and give Him thanks. Many believers, both young and old, struggle with doing both, not because they don’t believe that God deserves both, but because they can’t always distinguish between them. What, after all, is the difference between praising God and thanking Him?
Praise is the exclamation of honor and joy over the qualities of God. They focus on what and who God is. We praise God when we recount all that He is—His goodness, mercy, justice, holiness, love. Because God is so deserving, because God is rightly honored when we adore Him, because praise speaks truth about our Lord to the world, it is and should be a constant characteristic of Christian worship.
Thanksgiving, on the other hand, is situationally based. It is the right response of the Christian as we reflect on what our Savior has done for us. Thanksgiving comes when God acts on our behalf; we receive from His hand, and then return thanks to Him for His actions. Whereas praise speaks of who God is, thanksgiving responds to what He has done.
Usually, it is more difficult to teach people to praise than to give thanks. Because thanksgiving arises in response to what God has done for us, it is simply easier. In normal times, we can quickly list out the many good things we have received from our Lord and begin to express our appreciation to Him for those. Once you start thinking about it, “counting your blessings” easily turns to thanksgiving to God. Praise, on the other hand, forces us to think of God simply for who He is, to talk about Him without regard to what He has done. To praise God we have to discount ourselves, we have to think solely of Him and not of what He has done for us in this world. Praise thinks of God alone, and that’s not easy.
In recent times, all this is a bit different. Suddenly, for many, the thanksgiving does not come so easily. In our COVID-dominated world, it is more difficult to understand God’s providence or to see His blessings without being overwhelmed by frustrations. It is not that we are ignorant of the good things God does each and every day, it is just that there are so many other difficulties that push those blessings from our minds.
So, it comes as good news to read Psalm 136. The psalm is one big list of thanksgivings. It also is a tour of Israel’s history. As the psalm progresses from one historical event to the next, we are told to offer thanks to God “for his steadfast love endures forever”. For every step along the way, give thanks! Why? Because of God’s steadfast love for His people. But, if you know of the early stages of Israel’s history, you know that it was not always (or even often) smooth sailing. All too often, the Israelites ran into trouble. The psalmist’s response? “Give thanks!”
Now is a perfect time to practice praising God—think of all that He is and tell Him about it!
Now is also a perfect time to practice thanking God—in good times and hard, our Lord is at work doing wondrous things, and so Paul’s admonition rings true:
“Give thanks in all circumstances” (1 Thessalonians 5:18).
To the praise of His Glory! Henry
