The ungrateful debtor

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.

I was recently looking for a few books about thanksgiving to read to Iain in preparation for this wonderful holiday and I found nothing suitable. The books I saw were either about the somewhat dubious historical origins of the holiday or about eating or at best about "giving thanks". But of those few books that actually talked about thankfulness, even fewer mentioned who we were supposed to be thankful to. Most read like "A List of Things I Like". I like my house, my car, my food, my toys, my family. So thanks, whoever is out there, for giving me some things I like.

But what about people who have nothing? Or have a terminal illness? Or have lost something they value deeply? Are they called to thankfulness?

These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go with the multitude,
leading the procession to the house of God,
with shouts of joy and thanksgiving
among the festive throng.

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar. Psalm 42:4-5

I am in pain and distress;
may your salvation, O God, protect me.

I will praise God's name in song
and glorify him with thanksgiving.

This will please the LORD more than an ox,
more than a bull with its horns and hoofs. Psalm 69:29-31

What are we truly thankful for?

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever.

I'm thankful for his unshakeable love that chose me before the world began. For the heartache He has saved me from and for the heartache He has led me through. I'm thankful for His almighty power which can never ever fail. I'm thankful for His goodness. He is purity itself. How lovely to look at unadulterated good. There is not even the tiniest flaw in Him, and if I think so it is because there are deep flaws in me. I'm thankful for His lovingkindness that loves me, the covenant breaker. The murder, the adulterer, the idolator, the thief. I'm thankful that though this world is broken, it can not break me, because of the One who died and shed His immortal blood for me. Thank you God!

And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Savior’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain—
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?

No condemnation now I dread;
Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;
Alive in Him, my living Head,
And clothed in righteousness divine,
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.
Bold I approach th’eternal throne,
And claim the crown, through Christ my own.

And Can It Be, Charles Wesley

Dear Father, Please fill my heart with the true spirit of thanksgiving, this week and always. In Jesus' name, Amen.