The Best Kind of Works || Thankfulness || Part 4

I’m thankful you’re here. I’m thankful you’re reading this. I’m thankful you’ve checked out this blog. I’m thankful you’re joining us for our new blog series on thankfulness.

We’re in a five-part series called “Thankfulness” to prepare us for the seasons of Thanksgiving and Christmas so that we can enter them with a mindset of gratitude. This series talks about different things we can be thankful for God. In the last part, we talked about how we can be thankful for God’s promise to divinely favor us, especially in moments of chaos. Simply put God’s happiness, praise, and favor are the blessings for which we can find gratitude.

This part discusses how we can be thankful for God’s character and wondrous works.

Psalm 7:17

NASB	NLT	VOICE
17 I will give thanks to the Lord according to His righteousness And will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.	17 I will thank the Lord because he is just; I will sing praise to the name of the Lord Most High.	17 As a result, I will thank the Eternal for His justice, and sing praises in honor of the Eternal, Most High.

One thing we can be thankful for is God’s justice and righteousness. The Hebrew word for righteousness is ‘tsedeq.’ It describes how God’s power is used to achieve justice. To fully grasp this, let’s explore the Old Testament’s definition of justice.

The Hebrew word for justice is “mishpat,” describing our actions to ensure everyone is treated fairly. We must do what is right and just and love mercy (forgiveness), meaning we must do what is right for the reasons on behalf of others. (quoted and adapted from https://d1bsmz3sdihplr.cloudfront.net/media/Study%20Notes/Justice_Study%20Notes.pdf)

We can be thankful for God using his power to achieve ways for us to make sure everyone is treated fairly. Through the Holy Spirit, God checks us to make sure what we’re doing is for the right reason and if what we’re doing is genuinely for the benefit of others. Sometimes, people can do kind things to clout or inflate their egos. God will deal with those people in those moments, and that’s precisely how God’s justice operates. It’s not a punishment or evil act that God will do to get those people in check, but it will be a reality check to say that they aren’t living out the Gospel correctly.

2 Corinthians 9:15

NASB	NLT	VOICE
15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift.	15 Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!	15 Praise God for this incredible, unbelievable, indescribable, gift!

As I understand it, the gift Paul talks about here is God’s provision. God will provide everything for us and increase what we have to be generous with the excess. By doing this, two things will happen: the community’s needs will be met, and God’s provision will be praised. Our obedience will be seen and recognized, and God will receive credit for it. The possibility of extending the kingdom of Heaven is real when we share our excess with the world around us. We can find thankfulness not only in having the excess but also in being a blessing to those around us.

Revelation 11:17

NASB	NLT	VOICE
17 saying, “We give you thanks, Lord God, the Almighty, the One who is and who was, because You have take Your great power and have begun to reign.	17 And they said, “We give thanks to you, Lord God the Almighty, the one who is and who always was, for now you have assumed your great power and begun to reign.	17 24 Elders: We give you thanks, Lord God, the All Powerful, who is and who was. For You have wielded Your great power and have begun Your reign.

Our God is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Our God is the same God that Abraham followed, Moses, Peter, and John followed. God doesn’t change. His teachings are actual then as they are today. We need to fully understand those teachings to embrace the power that comes with them. God reigns over the world, for the world is his creation, submissive to the will he has planned for it. We can learn from the story of the past generations what worked and what didn’t!

Amos 4:13

NASB	NLT	VOICE
13 For behold, He who forms the mountains and creates the wind, And declares to a person what are His thoughts, He who makes dawn into darkness And treads on the high places of the earth, The Lord God of armies.	13 For the Lord is the one who shaped the mountains, stirs up the winds, and reveals his thoughts to mankind. He turns the light of dawn into darkness and treads on the heights of the earth. The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is his name!	13 Witness the One who shapes the mountains and fashions the wind, who reveals His thoughts to human beings, Who changes dawn to darkness and treads upon the high places of the earth. The Eternal God, Commander of heavenly armies, is His name.

Amos ends his list of indictments against Israel with this hymn of praise. It reminds us to praise God during the devasting parts of life so that we can be reminded that he has the ultimate control over everything. We can trust and hope God will set the world right for eternity. There’s an ultimate hope that one day, God’s creation will be able to treat each other with the love and respect he treats us with. Our role is to wait for that day and work towards making that plan a reality. Most days, it’s hard to do so because we always don’t feel loving and kind. There are days when we just want to be left alone and don’t want to interact with anyone. On those days, we thank God for residing within us and allowing us the strength to get through these tough days and achieve victory. The hope that resides out of that is a source of gratitude, which can exude from us and be shared with others.

Revelation 1:8

NASB	NLT	VOICE
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”	8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come – the Almighty One.”	8 Lord God: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, [the very beginning and the very end,] the One who is, the One who was, and the One who is coming: the All Powerful.

Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The Lord God himself is the beginning and the end of all things. God the Father is the eternal Lord and ruler of the past, present, and future. Without him, there’s nothing eternal, life-changing, and nothing that can rescue us from sin. We need to honor God. God surrounds all of creation and life and exists in the middle. God existed for Abraham, us, and our grandkids’ grandkids. The teachings of God are active for eternity. The context of how they apply changed with the different cultural and societal changes we live in. Still, there are commonplace teachings that exist for all of us. We can be thankful to God for that because when life feels confusing, unfair, and unjust, we can rely on the teachings of God to help us through the tough times.

In the next part, we wrap up this series by discussing how to be thankful for our brothers and sisters in Christ. I leave you with these words that best and most consistently describe God’s character, as mentioned in this study today. Until next time, stay blessed!

Exodus 34:6

Exodus 34:6     The Lord passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! The Lord! The God of compassion and mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.