Psa 50:14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High.
When God brought Israel out of the Egyptian bondage to Mount Sinai, He gave them His laws and ordinances. In the Old Covenant, the sacrifices played a very large and important part in their worship. Many in Israel misunderstood the significance of their sacrifices. They sacrificed to God thinking that God would be hungry and needed to eat those things they offered.
In this psalm, the psalmist is trying to correct the mistaken idea of the people with regards to the sacrifices. God says it is not that He is hungry that He requires those animal sacrifices. He says the cattle on a thousand hills are His (verse 10). And, “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof” (verse 12). The statement means God has the whole world at His disposal and therefore, it is foolish of them to think that He is in anyway dependent on them to fulfil His hunger. If He were hungry, said the psalmist, He would not tell them and ask them to give sacrifices; He can take care of Himself.
Hence, reproving them for such foolish and blasphemous notions, He teaches them to: “Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High” (verse 14).
The word “offer” means literally, “sacrifice”. In those animal sacrifices that the Israelites were offering, they were doing them as part of their religion. They were doing them religiously and as part of the rituals. They were not doing them from the heart. In those sacrifices, God was teaching them to be thankful and offer the sacrifices of thankfulness. God was telling them that He was the source of their blessings and they needed to give thanks to Him. But they missed the lesson and offered the animal sacrifices because it was commanded in the law; it did not proceed from the heart of thankfulness. The psalmist corrects them: “Offer unto God thanksgiving.”
We must always give thanks to God for His blessings. The one offering acceptable to God is praise and thanksgiving out of a pure heart. It is the will of God that we be thankful: “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you” (I Thessalonians 5:18).
It is the will of God that we be thankful for everything, in every circumstance, and for every event that may be good or bad. A storm is not a bad thing; give thanks even if it happens on your wedding day. A fall and have your arm broken is not a bad thing; give thanks because it could have been worst. A failed relationship is not the end of the world; give thanks that you have realised it earlier and not after the wedding that he could not be trusted to be faithful.
Some people act as if they had nothing to be thankful for. We call it ingratitude; they are ungrateful. Ingratitude is probably the less attractive attitude anyone could possess. From young, parents have been teaching their children to give thanks for anything they receive from anyone. Why? It is because it is the right thing to do. Grateful people are beautiful people.
“I used to complain that I had no shoes, until I met a man who had no feet.” Ungrateful people are complainers; they are never thankful for what they have. I belong to a generation in which I don’t throw away a pair of shoes until it is really worn out. I wore shoes with holes when I was a student. Up to today, I don’t throw away my shoes until the sole drops off. My good wife is even thriftier; she tries to glue it back. Grateful people don’t worry if their shoes got holes. Those who returned from mission trips can testify how those poor children over in those countries were tremendously thankful when they were given a simple loaf of bread. But over here, we are spoilt with choices and we complain. We need to count our blessings.
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful” (Colossians 3:15).
Let us be thankful to God for all things that He has blessed us with. When we put in our offering, it is not that God needs the money; He is teaching us to remember the source of our blessings and be thankful: “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him” (1 Corinthians 16:2). Let us offer unto God thanksgiving!
Jimmy Lau
Psa 119:97 Oh how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day.
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