This week Bro. Leo starts us on a new series of studies on Biblical Thanksgiving.  Today’s study will look at what God expects us to be thankful for and how we are to express our gratitude.

In Psa. 26:7 the word “publish” is translated from the Hebrew word “shâma‛” which means to announce, to vocalize, to tell, to sing out.  We honor God by speaking our thanksgiving out loud.  By doing so adds a degree of focus in our minds that we don’t get by just thinking the thoughts of thanksgiving.

In Psa. 26:7 the word “thanksgiving” is translated from the Hebrew word “tôdâh” which means overflowing heart felt gratitude with a jubilant spirit, Todah is an outward physical offering that reflects an inward posture of the mind and heart. We offer “Todah” unto the Lord as sacrificial praise & thanksgiving (https://waynecountybiblecenter.com/praiseworship-study/).

In Psa. 26:7 the word “tell” is translated from the Hebrew word “sâphar” which means to recount and renumerate (make a list) with praise and celebration.  We should think back and make a list of what God has done for you and make a list and thank Him.

Biblical gratitude and thanksgiving is specific, exact, meditative, reflective and it’s focused on the past (Josh. 4:1-3, 19-24).

In Lev. 23:39-44 we find the origin of our national Thanksgiving holiday.

“Forasmuch as it is the indispensable duty of all men to adore the superintending providence of Almighty God; to acknowledge with gratitude their obligation to him for benefits received…together with penitent confession of their sins, whereby they had forfeited every favor; and their humble and earnest supplications that it may please God through the merits of Jesus Christ, mercifully to forgive and blot them out of remembrance…it is therefore recommended…to set apart Thursday the eighteenth day of December next, for solemn thanksgiving and praise, that with one heart and one voice the good people may express the grateful feeling of their hearts and consecrate themselves to the service of their Divine Benefactor…acknowledging with gratitude their obligations to Him for benefits received….To prosper the means of religion, for the promotion and enlargement of that kingdom which consisteth ‘in righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost’.”
— Authored by Samuel Adams, The first national Thanksgiving Proclamation, issued by the revolutionary Continental Congress on November 1, 1777

Our Thanksgiving holiday should be an annual reminder to us that we need to be thankful to God for all the blessings He has bestowed upon us.  It is very important to have this reminder so that we don’t fall into the “poor pitiful me” trap.  We all have many things to be thankful for, but we have to stop and remember and vocalize our thanksgiving to God in order to fully understand those blessings (Psa. 16:5-7).

Scriptures used in today’s study:

Psa 26:6 I will wash mine hands in innocency: so will I compass thine altar, O LORD:
Psa 26:7 That I may publish with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell of all thy wondrous works.
Psa 26:8 LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

Jos 4:1 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over Jordan, that the LORD spake unto Joshua, saying,
Jos 4:2 Take you twelve men out of the people, out of every tribe a man,
Jos 4:3 And command ye them, saying, Take you hence out of the midst of Jordan, out of the place where the priests’ feet stood firm, twelve stones, and ye shall carry them over with you, and leave them in the lodging place, where ye shall lodge this night.
Jos 4:19 And the people came up out of Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal, in the east border of Jericho.
Jos 4:20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of Jordan, did Joshua pitch in Gilgal.
Jos 4:21 And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?
Jos 4:22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.
Jos 4:23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:
Jos 4:24 That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.

Lev 23:39 Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep a feast unto the LORD seven days: on the first day shall be a sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a sabbath.
Lev 23:40 And ye shall take you on the first day the boughs of goodly trees, branches of palm trees, and the boughs of thick trees, and willows of the brook; and ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God seven days.
Lev 23:41 And ye shall keep it a feast unto the LORD seven days in the year. It shall be a statute for ever in your generations: ye shall celebrate it in the seventh month.
Lev 23:42 Ye shall dwell in booths seven days; all that are Israelites born shall dwell in booths:
Lev 23:43 That your generations may know that I made the children of Israel to dwell in booths, when I brought them out of the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.
Lev 23:44 And Moses declared unto the children of Israel the feasts of the LORD.

Rev 2:3 And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Rev 2:4 Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love.
Rev 2:5 Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Psa 16:5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
Psa 16:6 The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.
Psa 16:7 I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

Psa 139:13 For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb.
Psa 139:14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.
Psa 139:15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Psa 139:16 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.
Psa 139:17 How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!
Psa 139:18 If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.

Act 17:23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
Act 17:24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
Act 17:25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
Act 17:26 And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
Act 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

Isa 42:5 Thus saith God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which cometh out of it; he that giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein:

Job 12:7 But ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they shall tell thee:
Job 12:8 Or speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee.
Job 12:9 Who knoweth not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?
Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind.

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

Psa 68:19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.
Psa 68:20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death.