Psalm 116: I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my supplications, because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live. The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me; I suffered distress and anquish. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “O Lord, I beseech Thee, save my life!” Gracious is the Lord, and righteous; our God is merciful. The Lord preserves the simple; when I was brought low, He saved me. Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. For Thou has delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; I walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I kept my faith, even when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”; I said in my consternation, “Men are all a vain hope.” What shall I render to the Lord for all His bounty to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people, precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. O Lord, I am Thy servant; I am Thy servant, the son of Thy handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I will offer to Thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people, in the courts of the house of the Lord, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

Verses 1 to 4 are a description of where we live life. There is the cry of a man aware of his frailty - his mortality - a man of physical and emotional needs. Beyond living the day-to-day issues that we all live with this man lives in distress and anquish. His life is one of affliction and tears - hopeless. Each of us could list of the deeper things that we struggle with.

Then there’s a description of the deliverance of God - verse 5: “Gracious is the Lord - our God is merciful - when I was in great need He saved me - I walk before the Lord in the land of the living.” I live because of God!

How many of us could share that testimony this morning? In all the places I’ve lived and all the experiences I have gone through - I have always had a roof over my head and I have not starved. Even though I haven’t always followed God or lived in obedience to Him - when I’ve turned to Him - and even when I haven’t - He’s always been there.

This is the testimony of those who have learned to trust God. God loves us - cares for us - meets our needs. God hears our prayers. He’s working to deliver us. He’s compassionate towards us - merciful and gracious to His children.

In an exclamation of praise and thanks-giving the question is asked - verse 12 - “How can I repay the Lord for all His goodness to me?”

How great is God’s goodness towards us! God has given us everything - even the means to give thanks. How can we give thanks to God? In thinking through this question - how can we give thanks to God - I’d like to share three answers from Psalm 116.

First - THANKSGIVING IS HONORING GOD. The question is, “How can I repay the Lord?” God is the focus of the Psalm.

Since September 11th it’s become politically correct to again say “God Bless America” - to invoke the divine. It’s become politically correct to “thank God.” But which God? Today there’s a movement to equate church with mosque and synagogue - to create a politically correct god - a generic god who has very few - if any - expectations of us - who blesses us because he should. A while back I shared a report written by a 4th grader who wrote a politically correct paper on the origins of Thanksgiving. He wrote: “The pilgrims came here seeking freedom of you know what. When they landed, they gave thanks to you know who. Because of them, we can worship each Sunday, you know where.”

So often the focus in thanksgiving is on us - on what we get - what God does for us - rather than God - who gives.

In 1623 - when the Pilgrims gave thanks - there was no confusion as to who God is and all that God had done for them. William Bradford, the Governor of the Plymouth Colony - wrote this: “To All You Pilgrims: Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience; now, I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all you Pilgrims, with your wives and little ones, do gather at the meeting house, on the hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November the 29th of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three, the third year since you Pilgrims landed on Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to your pastor, and render thanksgiving to Almighty God for all His blessings.”

As the immediate crisis of September 11th is passing away and - as a nation - we’re slowly slipping back into our old pattern of self-sufficiency and the godless business of our lives. We’re becoming distracted again by our own self-sufficiency - forgetting the simple truth of God’s presence - His faithfulness towards us - His provision - His love and care that sustains us.

Rev. Billy Graham - on September 14th - speaking on the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance, spoke these words of reminder, “Today we come together in this service to confess our need of God. We’ve always needed God from the very beginning of this nation. But today we need Him especially.”

When we begin to focus on God - in humility we must admit that we need God to bless us. The wonder of being able to give thanks is that God should have been gracious to us at all. We need days like today - weeks like this past week - to give thanks to God - to honor God - who despite ourselves - chooses to give to us.

First - THANKSGIVING IS HONORING GOD. Second, THANKSGIVING IS PERSONAL.

Two men were walking through a field one day when they spotted an enraged bull. Instantly they started running toward the nearest fence. The storming bull followed in hot pursuit, and it was soon apparent they weren't going to make it. Terrified, the one shouted to the other, "Start praying, John. We're done for it!"

John answered, "I can't. I've never prayed publicly in my life."

"But you have to!" yelled his companion. "The bull is catching up to us."

"All right," panted John, "I'll say the only prayer I know, the one my father used to repeat at the table: 'O Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us truly thankful.'"

Personal thanks-giving involves giving thanks in all the circumstances of our lives.

Psalm 116:13 is personal: “I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord.” The cup is not just any cup. The Armenian translates this - "purgoutean padjaguh" - the cup of salvation - the cup is symbolic of our life and relationship with God - the blessings and experiences that are given to us by God.

Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane - in prayer before His arrest, trial, crucifixion and death - blood coming from Him like sweat - prays, “Father, if Thou art willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not my will but Thine be done.” (Luke 22:42-44)

Later that night - as Jesus was arrested - Peter takes out his sword and in this bold - heroic - foolish act of defending Jesus - cuts off the right ear of the High Priest’s slave Malchus.

Jesus says to Peter - as He’s healing the ear of the slave - Jesus says, “Peter put your sword away. The cup which the Father has given Me, shall I not drink it?” (John 18:1-11)

At their private meals - the Jews had a cup of blessing - that the Head of the Household would drink from. In drinking from the cup - the head of the household gave thanks to God - first - acknowledging that his life and blessings were all from God and secondly he presented the cup back to God - symbolic of giving his life back to God.

To give thanks for the blessings of God is to accept the life - the cup - He offers. We respond to the blessings of God by saying, “Not my will. Not my life. But, the life you have given me is yours.” Thanks-giving is personal. We give thanks by giving ourselves to God.

Third - THANKSGIVING IS PUBLIC.

In Luke 17 we read that Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem. On the way He enters a village on the border between Samaria and Galilee. Ten lepers, standing at a proper distance - standing away from everyone else because they’re unclean - diseased - these 10 lepers call to Jesus. Their cry is for pity - mercy - something to help alleviate their misery. That was the way these hopeless men had to get their needs met. They’re simply conducting business - like a person living on the street who begs for a living. Lepers begged for what they needed to live.

Jesus meets the need of these social outcasts in a way that they really didn’t ask for or could have ever imagined. Jesus instructs the lepers to go to the priests for the legally required declaration of health. In those days it was the priests who determined if someone was sick or not - clean or unclean. As they go - on the way the lepers are cleansed.

We know this story. For whatever reason, nine healed lepers continue on to Jerusalem. One leper - the Samaritan - the most despised of the group - when he realized that he was healed, returns to Jesus - praising God at the top of his voice - in front of everyone who was there - he throws himself at Jesus’ feet and thanks Him.

Thanks-giving means indebtedness. Responding in thanks giving to God means that we admit our inability - our inadequacy - our lack of self-sufficiency. Like lepers where only a miracle of God - only the gracious blessing of God - can heal us.

God doesn’t deliver us just so that we can feel all wonderful about our lives and go on our merry way - soaking up His blessings and using them for ourselves. God delivers us - and protects us - and provides for us - and has saved us - so that we can publicly testify of His graciousness and righteousness and compassion - of who He is and what He’s done.

This is what Psalm 116 says - verse 14: I will pay my vows to the Lord in the presence of all His people - and in verse 19 - in the courts of the house of the Lord - in front of all God’s people - in your midst, O Jerusalem - in front of the entire city. Praise the Lord!

As individuals - and as a church - we should be like the 10th leper. To return to Jesus - to fall on our knees - completely prostrate without pretense and pride - in humble thankfulness for what God has done.

How can we give thanks to God? First - Thanksgiving is honoring God. Second - Thanksgiving is personal. Third - Thanksgiving is public.

By way of thinking through how all this applies to us today I’d like to make 4 suggestions - 4 practical things we can do to give thanks - not just at thanksgiving - but every day.

First: Take time alone. Find time daily - weekly - regularly - sit down alone with God and consider His blessings. Make a list of all His blessings in your life. Then thank Him for each one.

Second: Give Him thanks by giving Him control of your life. Whatever the cup He has given you to drink from - wherever He is leading you - whatever the circumstances - thank Him - trust Him - give Him control. In some situations that may not be easy.

You might want to read through Psalm 116 and think about how God has blessed you in the past - and the assurance that He is working in your life. Or you might think about what God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29:11: “I know the plans I have for you....plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Third: Come together as families and share His blessings - be public with your thanksgiving. Share what you’re individually giving thanks to God for.Talk about how God has preserved and blessed your family. Our kids and grandkids - nieces and nephews need to know that God is working in your life - and they need to see the example of thanks giving in us.

Fourth: As a church let’s give thanks to God - to praise Him publicly - together - for His blessings. What we come here for today is not to celebrate ourselves. Today - and every Sunday - we come to praise Him - to testify of His goodness. Our Service of Worship is a service for His benefit.