Psalms107: 22 – Let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving,
And declare His works with rejoicing.
Thanksgiving is not planned or thought out, thanksgiving is our joyful response to the goodness of God. Giving thanks is what happens when the chains of sin and compromise are broken by the love of God. The Lord’s sons and daughters that have escaped the corruption of this world by His grace are transformed into worshippers consumed with a heart of gratitude. It’s the goodness of God that gets us. Goodness demonstrated at the cross and lavishly poured on us by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Here is how Matthew Henry describes sacrifices of thanksgiving.
“When those who have been ill are restored, they must respond to God in praise: Let all men praise the LORD for his goodness; and let those, especially, to whom God has given new life spend it in his service. Let them sacrifice with thanksgiving, not only bring a thank offering to the altar but also bring a thankful heart to God. Thanksgiving is the best form of thank offering and will please the LORD better than an ox or bull. And let them declare his works with rejoicing, to his honor and to the encouragement of others. The living, the living, they shall praise him (Isa 38:19).”
The sacrificial offerings in the Old Testament were closely related to thanksgiving. The animals offered in the temple as sacrifices pictured the Sacrifice of God’s’ Lamb, Jesus the Son of God. Here is what Adam Clarke said about these sacrifices.
“For their healing they should bring a sacrifice; and they should offer the life of the innocent animal unto God, as he has offered their lives; and let them thus confess that God has spared them when they deserved to die; and let them declare also “his works with rejoicing”; for who will not rejoice when he is delivered from death?”
Once we see that Christ died in our place and became our sacrifice for sin we are overtaken by thanksgiving, in light of His goodness we have to give thanks to the Lord. If His mercy is real to you giving thanks becomes a way of life. This is closely related to coming together on the Lord’s day with His church. We gladly come to the house of God bringing our offerings and our songs of thanksgiving. As David said, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.”
