Read

1 Chronicles 16:34-36 (NIrV)

 Give thanks to the Lord, because he is good.
His faithful love continues forever.
 Cry out, “Save us, God our Saviour.
Save us. Bring us back from among the nations.
Then we will give thanks to you, because your name is holy.
We will celebrate by praising you.”
 Give praise to the Lord, the God of Israel,
for ever and ever.

Reflect

The number one reason we have to thank God is because he is good. All good things come from him (James 1:17). No matter what situation we are in, God is constant and his goodness is always good, so we always have things to thank him for.

These verses are taken from a longer song of praise first sung to God at the time when David set up the priests to worship God with songs. Until that point, their job had been about looking after the tabernacle and sacrifices as detailed in the book of Leviticus. At this point, David brought the covenant box, the symbol of God’s living presence with them, into Jerusalem and told the priests to “give honour, thanks and praise to the Lord” (v4). It’s interesting that after the sacrifices were no longer brought, the songs of thanks and praise continued, right into our modern Christian culture. These verses even include a description of the instruments used, trumpets and cymbals among others. This thanksgiving wasn’t a quiet affair! The trumpets may well have been shofars, or goats’ horns, which are incredibly loud. Your thanks today might not use a horn, but feel free to use an instrument if you play one, or play a praise song you know well. Let it be loud!

Share this with your family

Let’s thank God for who he is by thanking him for specific characteristics.

Let’s imagine God is sitting with us. Take it in turns to say three characteristics we appreciate about each person, including God – how dependable, trustworthy and fun they are, how gentle, considerate and loving. One of the amazing things is that everything good we appreciate about our family is also something we can appreciate about God – everything good comes from him!