“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever.”
(Psalm 136:1)
One of the many advantages we have as believers is to look back over the years and recognize the goodness of God displayed in them. We are better able to see how He provided, rescued, and restored us when we see these events in retrospect. Thanksgiving is therefore strengthened by deliberately recounting the mercies God has bestowed. This fuels gratitude and encourages continued trust in the God who has already shown Himself faithful. And since even the least mercy is undeserved, every remembered kindness supplies another reason to praise Him.[1]
Such remembrance begins with the most basic gifts of providence. Life, health, strength, memory, reason, understanding, and all the blessings belonging to this present life come from God. Even the formation of the body in the womb is an occasion for wonder. Every faculty and member has been ordered by divine wisdom. Such aspects of who we are may easily be taken for granted, but careful reflection teaches us to receive even ordinary abilities as remarkable expressions of God’s goodness.
His preserving mercy also reaches back into infancy and childhood. Before we are capable of recognizing danger or protecting ourselves, we are exposed to innumerable hazards. Yet God watches over our life through all those years that cannot even be remembered. He may also grant the great privilege of Christian parents who fear God, pray for their children, and instruct them in the ways of the Lord. Such parental prayers, admonitions, and examples are no small part of the providential goodness by which God cares for a soul.
The Lord’s goodness is also displayed when one ordinary support is removed and another is raised up. The loss of a mother in childhood could have left that child vulnerable and without proper care, yet God often provides friends who are tender, watchful, and concerned to assist with both the temporal and spiritual welfare of the child.
Another mercy worthy of careful remembrance is the particular usefulness of Scripture in seasons of trouble. During serious illness, the promise, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee,” may have brought contentment under a painful condition. In a later season of fear and approaching danger, the words, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee,” may have driven away fear and encouraged confidence in the Almighty. Such experiences teach that God’s goodness is not only seen in removing troubles, but also in giving His Word to sustain the soul while trouble remains.
Even the heaviest difficulties may reveal divine mercy when God uses His truth to quiet and uphold the heart. The loss of children brings deep sorrow, yet Scripture supplies opportunities for the broken heart to submit beneath the Lord’s hand. The chastening of the Lord can be seen not as abandonment, but as the dealings of a heavenly Father with those whom He loves. And such assurance of His fatherly love could make even severe affliction bearable.
Thanksgiving therefore gathers together the whole course of providence, and looking back and remembering such goodness gives strength to look forward. The God who has bestowed so many mercies remains worthy of our trust, praise, and patient waiting.
Contemplations:
- Let Me Remember What I Have Too Easily Called Ordinary. You have given me life, strength, memory, reason, understanding, and countless daily mercies that I often receive without serious thought. Help me stop treating continued mercies as though they were expected. Let what has become familiar become wonderful again. Give me a thankful memory that notices Your hand in the common gifts I have too often passed over without praise.
- Your Care Began Before I Could Recognize It. Before I understood danger, You preserved me through dangers I could not see. Before I could care for myself, You provided means of care. You have used parents, friends, teachers, counselors, and the prayers of others as instruments of Your goodness. Make me thankful for mercies I received before I knew enough to call them mercies. Let me see that Your providence has surrounded my life far longer than my own memory can reach.
- Your Word Has Sustained Me in Particular Troubles. You have not given Scripture in general; You have used particular promises at particular times. In sickness, fear, danger, and grief, Your Word has supplied what circumstances could not. You have spoken peace when the outward condition remained painful. Keep those mercies alive in my memory. And when new troubles come, let remembered promises encourage renewed trust.
- Your Fatherly Hand Has Been Good Even in Affliction. Some of Your providences have been severe, yet Your goodness did not cease when sorrow entered. You have used chastening to humble, correct, and draw Your people nearer to Yourself. Teach me to distinguish pain from abandonment. If the rod comes from a Father who loves, let me submit beneath it without denying the grief it brings. Give me gratitude for the grace that sustains under affliction and for the fatherly love that refuses to forsake Your own.
Prayer (Thanksgiving):
O Lord, I give thanks unto You, for You are good, and Your mercy endures forever.
Bring Your mercies often to my remembrance. Keep me from allowing years of goodness to pass into forgetfulness. Teach me to recount what You have done so that remembered mercy may awaken present gratitude and strengthen my confidence in You for whatever lies ahead.
I praise You for life, health, strength, memory, reason, understanding, and every faculty You have given. You formed me before I could know You, preserved me before I could protect myself, and carried me through dangers I never even recognized.
I bless You for every person You have used for my good. For godly instruction, faithful prayers, tender care, serious admonition, and every friend raised up in a season of need, I acknowledge Your providential hand.
I praise You especially for Your Word. You have given promises suited to sickness, fear, danger, grief, and uncertainty. You have used Scripture to quiet the heart when circumstances remained painful and to strengthen trust when fear threatened to prevail.
Even under chastening, You have not ceased to be good. Where Your rod has humbled, corrected, or drawn the heart nearer to You, let me recognize fatherly mercy rather than only present pain.
Above all, I bless You for the hope of dwelling with You in glory when this miserable life is ended. Let that promised inheritance crown every temporal mercy with eternal hope.
While I live, let me praise You. While I have am alive, let me remember Your goodness, trust Your faithfulness, and give thanks for mercies far beyond anything I deserve.
In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.
Further Scripture References:
Ps. 106:1; Ps. 107:1; 1 Chron. 16:34; Ps. 100:5
[1] Thomas Manton, Advice to Mourners under the Loss of Dear Relations (London: J.D. for Jonathon Robinson .., 1694), 55-58.
