“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.”

The words above are found in 1 Chronicles 16:34; Psalm 106:1; 107:1; 118:1, 29; 136:1 and, with some variation, in other passages. Thanksgiving is again upon us, and I find myself with so much to be thankful for that merely listing my blessings seems too trivial to express how much my family and I have been blessed this year, both spiritually and physically. Yet, this does not mean it has been an easy year. Far from it. Trials are also cause for thanksgiving. God calls us His jewels (Malachi 3:17), but gems are made by intense pressure and gold is refined in fire. E.M. Bounds wrote, “Gratitude and thanksgiving forever stand opposed to all murmurings at God’s dealings with us, and all complainings at our lot. Gratitude and murmuring never abide in the same heart at the same time.” I’ve listed a few more quotes that I think might be helpful to get the mind off of the turkey and onto the Creator.

Christian man, bless God, who hath given thee to Jesus Christ by promise; and again, bless God for that he hath drawn thee to him. And why is it thee? Why not another? O that the glory of electing love should rest upon thy head, and that the glory of the exceeding grace of God should take hold of thy heart, and bring thee to Jesus Christ!
—John Bunyan

Thank God every day when you get up that you have something to do that day which must be done whether you like it or not. Being forced to work and forced to do your best will breed in you temperance and self-control, diligence and strength of will, cheerfulness and content, and a hundred virtues, which the idle will never know.
—Basil Carpenter

You say, “If I had a little more, I should be very satisfied.” You make a mistake. If you are not content with what you have, you would not be satisfied if it were doubled.
—C. H. Spurgeon

An humble soul will bless God, and be thankful to God, as well under misery as under mercy; as well when God frowns as when he smiles; as well when God takes as when he gives; as well under crosses and losses as under blessings and mercies…. An humble soul is quick-sighted: he sees the rod in Father’s hand; he sees honey upon the top of every twig, and so can bless God; he sees sugar at the bottom of the bitterest cup that God doth put into his hand; he knows that God’s house of correction is a school of instruction; and so he can sit down and bless when the rod is upon his back. An humble soul knows that the design of God in all is his instruction, his reformation, and his salvation…. Afflictions to humble souls are the Lord’s plough, the Lord’s harrow, the Lord’s flail, the Lord’s drawing plaster, the Lord’s pruning knife, the Lord’s potion, the Lord’s soap; and therefore they can sit down and bless the Lord, and kiss the rod…. An humble soul knows, that to bless God in prosperity is the way to increase it; and to bless God in adversity is the way to remove it.
—Thomas Brooks

Let us bless God for the scriptures, that we have such a waymark to ditch us, and point out unto us the way in which we should go; let us make use of them; let us search the scriptures daily and diligently, and the rather, since they testify of Christ, of his person, offices, of his doctrines and ordinances.
—John Gill

Thanks be to my Head, the great King of kings,
My life from the dead, the death of my sins;
Who took all my woes, and was made sin for me;
Who died, and who rose, and from sin set me free.
—William Gadsby

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