Thanksgiving is not a holiday…it is a way of life.

There was a King that was concerned that his sons were not learning to appreciate what they had. He put on a feast and in the middle of it, a beggar came in, sat down, ate and then left without saying a word. The King’s sons were furious, demanding that their father teach that beggar a lesson for not thanking the King for the feast. 
The King responded, “why should he be punished, you boys sat and ate and never thanked God for what you have?”

I don’t know about you, but for me, I know I can just take many things for granted. A study was done by a university in the 1960’s when most women stayed at home with the children. They found the average housewife in her lifetime prepared. 35,000 meals, made between 10,000-40,000 beds, Vacuumed rugs that equaled 1 mile long by 1/10 mile wide, and cleaned 7000 plumbing fixtures! Most times they were not thanked for all that work.

What does it mean to be thankful? To express appreciation or gratitude. Very simple, yet very powerful in giving a healthy mindset.

Consider King David, who was known as a man after God’s own heart! He meditated a lot on God and understood Him better than his contemporaries. Even when he sinned by murder and adultery, he understood the real issue with his sin:

Psalm 51:4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

David is the one writer of the Scriptures that has a large work that examines the generosity, greatness and kindness of God. Consider just one of his writings:  

Psalm 145: A Psalm of Praise, of David. ¹ I will extol You, my God, O King, And I will bless Your name forever and ever. ² Every day I will bless You, And I will praise Your name forever and ever. ³ Great is the Lord, and highly to be praised, And His greatness is unsearchable. ⁴ One generation shall praise Your works to another, And shall declare Your mighty acts. ⁵ On the glorious splendor of Your majesty And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate. ⁶ Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts, And I will tell of Your greatness. ⁷ They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness. ⁸ The Lord is gracious and merciful; Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness. ⁹ The Lord is good to all, And His mercies are over all His works. ¹⁰ All Your works shall give thanks to You, O Lord, And Your godly ones shall bless You. ¹¹ They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom And talk of Your power; ¹² To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom. ¹³ Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And Your dominion endures throughout all generations. ¹⁴ The Lord sustains all who fall And raises up all who are bowed down. ¹⁵ The eyes of all look to You, And You give them their food in due time. ¹⁶ You open Your hand And satisfy the desire of every living thing. ¹⁷ The Lord is righteous in all His ways And kind in all His deeds. ¹⁸ The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, To all who call upon Him in truth. ¹⁹ He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. ²⁰ The Lord keeps all who love Him, But all the wicked He will destroy. ²¹ My mouth will speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

Notice what David is thankful for:

        


         v. 1-3 - His Awesomeness

         v. 5 - His Works

         v. 8-9 - His Grace and Mercy

         v. 16 - All satisfying

         v. 18 - His intimacy

         v. 19-20 – His Salvation

So here is the question we must ask ourselves: Why do we struggle with this?

The answer is easy, however the problem is difficult. The FLESH.

(1) We are by nature Self Centered. Scripture points out that our worldly heart has evil intentions. Remember the 10 lepers that were healed by Jesus, Luke 17:11-17, only one returned to thank Him…our flesh is very easily gratified! Once we get what we desire we can move on real quick. What I find interesting about this Psalm is David refers to himself only 6 times, whereas he refers to the Lord 50 times!

(2) The Spirit strives against flesh. The natural man will not want to honor God. Paul points this out in Galatians:

Galatians 5:17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.

I find it interesting that many I have talked to, including my own experience, that when we begin to praise God, our flesh attempts to make us feel as though we are “buttering” God up. That is because our flesh does not feel good doing what is right!

(3) We are conditional beings. The usual communion we have with God most times carries personal requests with it. In Ps. 145 David does not make one personal request!

The So What: Do you ever talk to God about Himself? How easy is it for you to praise the Lord? Do you thank Him for everyday things or only special answers to prayer? Take Ps 145 and read it back as a praise of thanks to God.