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Thursday Devotion - Give Thanks to The Lord

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Our lives are made up of days and hours and moments. They all have these bookends, these beginnings and endings. Psalm 106 opens up in praise and closes in praise. This is called an inclusio; a Hebrew poetic pattern that repeats a phrase at both the beginning and end of a psalm and is meant to give a sense of completion. The beginning phrase not only sets the entire tone of the psalm, but with the repeating ending phrase, creating a sense of unity. Psalms 106 is essentially God’s commanded bookends for every moment, every breath.

Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Ps 106:1;48). This right here is God’s given pattern for our lives, how we ‘bookend’ our moments and lead complete lives. When we give thanks to the Lord, our days are given a sense of unity and keeps us aligned with Christ. If our lives are not characterised as giving thanks to God, our lives are then characterising God as not good. We must give thanks to God, because God is good.

The psalm continues to remind us of when God’s children keep forgetting their Father’s faithfulness; they did not consider God’s wondrous works and the abundance of God’s steadfast love (v.7), they soon forgot God’s works (v.13), they forgot God, their Saviour, who had done great things, wondrous works and awesome deeds (v.21-22). Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he heard their cry (v.44). God never stops remembering His people.

Remember what Christ has done for you, and give thanks. This is one of Christ’s commands that is often too neglected. If we forget and do not give thanks, our whole world falls into confusion. The very stability of our world depends on our rejoicing in, remembering, and recounting the goodness of God.


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