Thursday, January 14, 2016

"Thank" in Bible 133 times

Psalm 107:1 "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever."

The Psalmist then recounts various scenarios when the people suffered afflictions: some wandered in desert wastelands, hungry and thirsty; some were prisoners sitting in darkness bound in iron chains; some were subjected to slave labor; some were pushed to their wits end during perilous storms at sea.

In two of these scenarios their afflictions were punishment for their rebellious ways (v. 10-12, 17-18). In the other two they were apparently just experiencing dangers of ordinary life (v. 4-5, 23-27). In each case, however, they "cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress." The Psalmist then exhorts, "Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men." This pattern repeats four times in this chapter. He also adds additional instructions in verse 22, "Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy." And in verse 32 he says, "Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people and praise him in the council of the elders."

"Give thanks" is repeated five times in this chapter alone --*thank* occurs 133 times in the Bible!  I just looked it up on Biblica.com (That includes every occurrence including: thanks, thankfulness, thanksgiving.) I guess it's pretty important!

I'm thankful:

1. That the crew of the boat who were detained by the Iranians were safely released (whatever the motivations of the Iranians we can at least be very thankful the crew are safe!)

2.  for God's unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for men (yes, that includes women too!)

3. I finally got my Christmas decorations taken down and put away

4. and a few other things done that I had been procrastinating

5. our garden club went to a retirement village this week and helped residents make flower arrangements. I felt a little clueless but in the end was able to help one of the ladies make a pretty arrangement.










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