Thread by @glprater

#GeraldsDevotional
Who Gives Thanks to the Lord – Those Who Understand
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Yesterday we read the beginning of Psalm 107 and explored the question of “Why we give thanks to the Lord?” Today we will continue as that Psalm explains not just why, but who does it and to what depth they give thanks.

First, the people who give thanks to the Lord are the ones

who finally understand their situation. They understand the desperate and hopeless place to which their choices in life had brought them. What they had thought was good turned out to be very bad for them and for others around them. Their idea of light turned out to be darkness…

life and prosperity turned out to be death and slavery. And this all happened because they had rebelled and rejected what God had been showing and telling them from the very beginning. But they allowed themselves to be manipulated and deceived into this state by an evil world

system. And out of love for them, God allowed them to freely choose.

But now they understand their situation and they call out to the Lord to help them. And He does so without hesitation or rebuke. He loves on them in an unconditional way that makes no sense at all in this

fallen and dark world of selfishness. He restores them in spite of all the bad that they had done and that they still had a tendency to do. They understand that the Lord not only restored them, but that He keeps them and is providing for all of their needs (even when they don’t

always understand why certain things happen).

So finally, they fully understand that the Lord is God and that He is and had always been with them. And with this ultimate understanding, they not only thank Him, but they give Him praise and glory with great joy. And increasingly

they do this NOT because of what the Lord does for them, but because of who He is.

Now let’s continue to read Psalm 107 picking up at verse 10 as we celebrate the goodness of the Lord.

10 Those who sat in darkness and in the shadow of death,
Bound in affliction and irons—
11 Because they rebelled against the words of God,
And despised the counsel of the Most High,
12 Therefore He brought down their heart with labor;
They fell down, and there was none to help.

13 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,
And broke their chains in pieces.
15 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,

And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
16 For He has broken the gates of bronze,
And cut the bars of iron in two.

17 Fools, because of their transgression,
And because of their iniquities, were afflicted.
18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food,

And they drew near to the gates of death.
19 Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble,
And He saved them out of their distresses.
20 He sent His word and healed them,
And delivered them from their destructions.

21 Oh, that men would give thanks to the Lord for His goodness,
And for His wonderful works to the children of men!
22 Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And declare His works with rejoicing. - Psalms 107:10-22
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