Give Thanks to The Lord: Psalm 107:1 —3

The sacred poet encourages the covenant community to give thanks. He assumes that gratitude is a theological impulse in Yahweh's redeemed people. But what is gratitude? Gratitude is made up of three things: knowing, feeling, and responding. Let's focus on these factors individually.Knowledge is the way the worshiper interprets the blessings he receives. Here the psalmist knows that blessings come from God. This naturally precludes the possibility that God's blessings are the product of chancy events. The believer knows that God's blessings are God's actions. For that reason, he gives thanks to God. Notice carefully, he doesn't give thanks to life itself nor does he give thanks to circumstances around him. It's clear then that we cannot be thankful until we know that everything is from God (cf. James 1.17). If we associate the divine blessings with other things, we're going to lack full knowledge, this is going to affect our emotional state, which will drastically decrease the behaviour. of gratitude. Now the state (feeling) derived from knowledge is joy. Joy in God, not in blessings or even in acts of kindness towards us from other people. This joy is based on the knowledge of God's proximity in our redemption, which in this passage means that God is near to us in goodness and love that endures forever (verse 1). The last factor in gratitude that is connected with joy and the knowledge of the Giver of blessings, is action or response. The action is what is expected of the thankful person. What is this action? The psalm calls us to use the "tongue" to give thanks and to express adoration with our restraint to God. Read the rest of the psalm and you will realise that the tongue, or the act of vocalisation is always present in gratitude to the Lord. For complete thankfulness all three must be engaged in praising the Lord.