Give Thanks

Transcript

Hello, my friend… so glad you're with me today. This is By God's Call — day 332, Give Thanks.

Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever. Psalm 107:1.

Let that settle for just a moment. Don't rush past it. Give thanks to the LORD — for he is good. For his steadfast love endures forever.

The psalmist doesn't open with a cold command or a religious duty. He opens with a warm invitation. There's someone here who has tasted the goodness of God and simply cannot hold it in — and so he turns to you and says: come, give thanks, because there is every reason to.

And what is that reason? Not what God did yesterday. Not what you're hoping He'll do tomorrow. The reason is who He is. He is good. Now that's different from saying He's powerful. A powerful God without goodness would be something to run from. But a God who is good — and who also holds all power — that God is shelter. That God you can call Father.

And then the psalmist goes deeper: his steadfast love endures forever. In Hebrew, the word is hesed. There's no clean English equivalent. It means covenant love — faithful, loyal, unshakeable. It's the love that doesn't break when you break, that doesn't cool when you drift, that doesn't vanish when you fail. That love doesn't rise and fall with your performance. It endures — forever.

And listen — this is not just beautiful ancient poetry. It has a face. God's goodness is not an abstract idea floating somewhere beyond reach. It showed up. It took on flesh. Christ on the cross is the most final, most weight-bearing proof that has ever existed: God is good, and His love for you will not end. You can doubt many things in this life — but you cannot look at that cross and doubt that. It stands. Solid. Eternal.

Now — the gratitude that rises from this is not merely a list of blessings you run through on a good day. It's something deeper. It's a heart that gets reoriented. That stops staring at what's missing and starts seeing who is present. When you remember who God is — good, faithful, unshakeable — anxiety begins to lose its grip. Not because your problems disappeared. But because you remembered who is larger than all of them. Trust takes root exactly where gratitude is planted.

So today — before breakfast, before your phone, before the day gets its hands on you — do this one thing: name out loud three concrete evidences of God's goodness in your life. One from the distant past — something He did years ago that still holds you up today. One from the past week — something recent, large or small, that came from His hand. And one from this very morning — something from today, even if it seems ordinary. Say it out loud. Not just in your head. Let your voice declare what your heart needs to hear.

Stay close to God. Pray — then act. I'll see you tomorrow, my friend.