For These Reasons, Lord, We Thank You! (Part One), Part 3

What's the Best Way to Give God Thanks? With thanksgiving around the corner, may I urge you at your meal, rather than quickly going to the things for which you are grateful to have, look up and solemnly and reverently and gratefully acknowledge that He is God. In America, where insight for living originates, Thanksgiving falls on the final Thursday in November.

That's tomorrow. But no matter what country you call home, any season is worthy of giving thanks. In fact, a thorough study of the Bible reveals that cultivating a heart of gratitude should become a major discipline for every follower of Christ.

Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll resumes his brand new mini-series on this topic. Today he is reminding us that our gratitude should transcend the material things that God provides, to include His attributes as well. God is omniscient. God is omnipresent. God is omnipotent. God is omnirighteous.

Always at work, forever loving us, He could not love us more even though He could not know us better. Look at these first six verses. Let's dig right in here.

I told you when I started this is a sermon on theology, so without apology, let's think theologically. Oh Lord, you have examined my heart. The Hebrew word means to sift, to sift, as you would sift flour, as you would sift sand. To sift, it even carries the idea of digging through the sand or the dirt as an archaeologist would to find something precious, some vital discovery looking for. Lord, you dig me. You dig deeply in me. You sift through me.

He's describing the greatness of God's omniscience and it's not an omniscience just about things, it's about me. You examine me. You get into me. So show me what you see as you examine me. You know everything about me. There's omniscience.

He knows everything. You know my thoughts even from afar. You know the thoughts before I have them. You know where they come from.

Or even if I'm at a distance, it may mean that. You know those thoughts. You know my thoughts even before I say them. You go before me and follow me and place your hand of blessing on my head. I love that.

There's grace in that. You don't follow me to slap me in the face. You follow me to put your hand of blessing on my head. You love me. The one who knows us the best could not love us more.

What a marvelous thing. That's not true of everybody. Some people who know us really well, you don't want those people to say much because they know everything about you. God knows it all. The beautiful thing, he keeps it to himself. It's called grace. It's called grace. The shameful things you should never have done and I should never have done.

The dreadful things we should never have thought or participated in. He knew those thoughts. He was right there. In fact, you go before me and you follow me and bless me. He adds, verse six, I can't wrap my head around it.

This is the way the Psalmist says it, such knowledge is too wonderful for me to understand. God understands us. He sees through us. We never pull the wool over his eyes. He doesn't have eyes. He is God. It is his nature to know. He doesn't discover.

He knows. Now, the beautiful thing about this wonderful God of ours is he not only knows us fully and completely, understanding us, we can never break free from him. Oh, we can escape. We can try to get away.

Look at what it says in verse seven. I can never escape from your spirit. I can run, but I can't hide. I can never get away from your presence. I can never go to a place and, no, God's not here because he is there, no matter where. No matter how evil the setting may be, God knows exactly where you are. God is all about you. No matter how frightening the situation may be, God is right there. He's not frightened. He knows what will happen. He's in charge. Psalm 115 three, our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he's pleased to do.

So he's engaged. Now, David begins the next line with several ifs. If I go all the way up to heaven, you.

I love the way that appears in the original. I go all the way to the presence and there is one great you. He's all about heaven. If you were to travel incognito to the remotest island, leaving everyone who knows you in your past, leaving no forwarding address, saying nothing to no one, and you found yourself in the most remote of places, in the middle of the vast oceans, even there, you could speak with and know for sure that your heavenly Father is right there. In fact, he is there. I love this. Even there, verse 10, your hand will guide me and your strength will support me.

Look at that. Even there, your hand will guide me. No one knows where I am.

You do. You know it all and you're never absent. So your hand will guide me and your strength will support me. Talk about giving reason to say thank you on the day of Thanksgiving. Lord God, we reverently and gratefully and solemnly acknowledge your presence and power. Thank you, O God, for caring enough to be right there.

In all of my needs, you're there to meet them. Our ship left San Diego when I was going to serve my time in the military over on the island of Okinawa. We left San Diego and 17 days later we docked at Yokohama, Japan.

Seventeen days at sea, we crossed the international date line. I'd been at sea before but not like this. I'd never seen 40, 50 foot swells in a storm that made this ship that was enormous. 3,500 other military people on the ship and it felt like a toothpick in that sea. It was churning for four days in a storm at sea. A skipper came on later and told all of us that aside from storms he had hit in the North Atlantic, he had never seen such a storm and he was grateful we made it through. Everyone on the ship was sick. Everybody seasick.

The sea was at an uproar. God was right there. Right there. Nahum, one of the prophets says the clouds are but the dust of his feet. That's our God. No other God like him. That's our great God. That's the one in charge of our world, of us, our times.

Yes, even when there is a pandemic. He's there. He's here. Knows all about it. Knew it was coming centuries before it arrived. Knows exactly how long it will last.

Knows exactly when the vaccine will be discovered, when it will be issued, how effective it will be. All those who will live through it, all those who will die in it, knows it all. And by the grace of our Heavenly Father, we are here today cared for, strengthened, supported. David goes a step further and says in verse 11, I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night. But even in darkness, I cannot hide from you. To you, the night shines as bright as day, darkness and light, all the same to you. There's no night with God.

There's no time to sleep. There's nothing like that. Don't make God into an old man with a long beard that blows from the north wind and think of that as God.

There's nothing at all like us. Knows all, is present through all, is powerful in the midst of all, even in the darkness. When evil men and women think they can carry out their wicked deeds, it's like broad daylight to God. Every deceitful chamber is in the midst of God's presence.

He's right there. Every lie that's planned, he sees it being planned, he witnesses it carried out. There is no hiding from him. He is, remember, omnipresent. Charles Spurgeon writes, this sentence that I just read about darkness, this sentence seems to sum up all that went before and most emphatically puts the negative upon the faintest idea of hiding under the cover of night. Men and women cling to this notion because it's easier and less expensive than hiding under darkness than to journey to remote places and therefore the foolish thought is here beaten to pieces by this statement. The ungodly are still duped by their groveling notions of God and inquire how does God know?

They must fancy that he is as limited in his powers of observation as they are and yet if they would consider but for a moment they would conclude that he who could not see in the dark could not be God and he who is not present everywhere could not be the almighty creator. With Thanksgiving around the corner, may I urge you at your meal, whether it's you alone or with another or a few, rather than quickly going to the things for which you are grateful to have, look up and solemnly and reverently and gratefully acknowledge that he is God and by his grace he found you, came to your rescue at the cross, he knows you completely, he loves you unconditionally, and then as you thank him for his omniscience don't forget his omnipresence. Thank you, oh God, that you were here. You have never been elsewhere in my life than here, forever here is. Thank you that you were there and that you will be there. Thank you that you are the answers to our every question and the solution to our every struggle and quiet our hearts with the realization that what may trouble us called a pandemic doesn't trouble you. You know what you're doing, all things work together for our good and your glory.

Remember to do that when you sit at your table to eat your meal. Long ago it was the 17th century in a place that you probably have not known about Eilenburg Saxony in ancient Germany. I say ancient, 17th century Germany. There is a war going on and the enemy is outside the walls of Eilenburg and within the walls there is a plague, there is a famine, there is fear, insecurity, and death, lots of deaths. Even the pastors who ministered to their flocks became ill and died away except for one, one lived on, Martin Rinkert his name. Pastor Rinkert on some occasions would bury as many as 50 in one day.

One day. That is a plague. They were at a loss that no one knew what to do or who would die next. Every cough led to suspicion, every sneeze frightened those around them. Martin watched his children shiver in fear and realized if there's ever going to be peace someone will have to negotiate with the enemy. He decided before they broke through the gate he would go out of the gate and courageously stand before them and simply plead their case.

He did that. It so impressed the enemy troops that they laid down their arms. They swore not to invade. The fight was over and out of honor they said to him go back, be with your family, we will leave. He went in, sat down at the little table, children fearful, not knowing what to expect. He told them and then he realized there could be no healing without thanksgiving.

Think of that statement. So he decided in all things to give thanks and he wrote a piece that became a hymn 1636. Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices who wondrous things have done in whom this world rejoices who from our mother's arms have blessed us on our way with countless gifts of love and still is ours today. All praise and thanks to God the father now be given the son and him who reigns with them in highest heaven the one eternal God whom earth and heaven adore for thus it was is now and shall be evermore. For all Martin Rinchert knew that would be a little poem he would give his children to take with them to remember God's intervening.

Little did he know that one day it would be linked to a melody composed by Mendelssohn and turned into a hymn the church would sing from then till now. Now thank we all our God. He remembered that thanksgiving is about the one who dwells above us and cares for us and ministers to us and meets us at the cross where he saves us and provides for us eternal life. Bow with me will you for a few moments just close your eyes. We may never see another thing Christ may come and all earthly holidays will be forgotten.

There may not be an America in the centuries to come should Christ tarry the direction we're going who knows but our God remains the same yesterday today and forever. May we solemnly reverently and gratefully acknowledge him. If you've never trusted in the Savior what on earth are you waiting for? Trust him now.

Trust him now. Dear Father, thank you that you know us, you're close to us, you've made us and you're forever righteous in our world of panic confusion lies and deceit. You see it all clearly and you lead us sovereignly. Have your way this thanksgiving season beginning with each one of us. In the name of Jesus we pray.

Everyone said, Amen. It's possible you're among those who made the decision to follow Jesus Christ today and to trust him with your life. We celebrate your decision and want to welcome you into the family of God. But if you're vacillating and want to learn more about what it means to follow God, we invite you to check out a webpage we've created for this purpose. Just go to insight.org slash how to know God. Again that's insightworld.org slash how to know God. If you're brand new to this daily Bible teaching program you wouldn't know that Insight for Living is made possible not through the sponsorship of a large church or religious institution but through the voluntary donations of those who wanted you to have access to Chuck's teaching and the stations who partner with us. In that respect those who give to Insight for Living have a ministry all their own. You see when you give to this nonprofit ministry you're the one who's touching a life with God's grace not only here at home but all around the world. And your loyalty and faithful giving sometimes over the course of many years has allowed us to reach more people than we ever dreamed possible. Chuck, in July 2019 we celebrated a significant milestone four decades on AM and FM radio. Times have changed since 1979 and today the program is offered through a variety of channels.

That's right Dave. Insight for Living started more than 40 years ago as a radio ministry long before the internet and mobile phones came along. Today we're using every digital platform imaginable. And most of them are pretty unfamiliar to this preacher. I can tell you that. A lot has changed in 40 years but gratefully God's message of grace never changes. No matter what technology we use God accomplishes his purposes when we simply expose people to the sweet aroma, his grace.

Let me put some skin on that statement. Because of the financial gifts that listeners like you gave, this year we heard from lonely commuters who rely on us to give them companionship and biblical insight as they travel to and from work. We heard from devoted pastors who trust us as a mentor to teach them how to search the scriptures and feed their own flocks grace-filled messages. We also heard from stressed out students who live on campuses where their Christian faith and their moral boundaries are regularly tested. We heard from single moms who manage their households and work full-time jobs without any help. And we heard from wives and husbands who have lost their partners through death or divorce. They all tell their own personal stories of heartbreak and brokenness and their discovery of God's grace and their reliance upon his word as taught on Insight for Living.

And by the way, that's where you come in. If you have given to our ministry, you have helped carry this message of God's grace to people all across the world, people who crave it. This Christmas season, I'm asking you to step forward and help someone else unwrap the priceless gift of God's grace. Would you do that, please? You can do it right now by giving generously to Insight for Living Ministries.

When all of us, me included, invest financially in this urgent cause, then together we become the fragrance of God's grace to those who desperately need his unconditional love. Let's do this together, and let's do it today. Thanks so much. Getting in touch and responding to Chuck Swindoll is easy, and you can pick the method that's best for you. First, you can always call the toll-free phone number day or night. If you're listening in the U.S., dial 1-800-772-8888.

Once again, that's 1-800-772-8888. Or it might be quickest and most efficient to give at our secure website. You'll find us online at insight.org slash donate. Once again, that's insight.org slash donate. We look forward to hearing from you soon, and thank you for generously supporting the Ministry of Insight for Living. Join us again when Chuck Swindoll continues to describe the many reasons to give God thanks. That's our topic tomorrow on Insight for Living. Thank you.