Sweeting writes, Why do we need Thanksgiving? Who do we thank? And how do we do it? Here is where one of the great psalms of the Bible, Psalm 103, helps us understand. It starts out, “Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.”
Psalm 103:2 answers both the “who” and the “why” question. Who do we give thanks to? The Psalm answers—it is the Lord to whom we ultimately give thanks. The Psalm uses the sacred name of God. He is the one, eternal, self-existent, creator, sustainer, and redeemer. Our thanksgiving holiday involves a lot of things but the fundamental thing, the most basic thing is to give thanks to God.
But why? Why should we give him thanks? Again, the psalm helps, “forget not all his benefits.” Benefits as in — blessings. We too easily forget. Jesus once told how he had healed ten lepers. Of the ten, only one came back to thank him. We are like the 9 lepers. We experience many good things throughout the year, but then we forget to thank God for them. Sometimes we even think we are entitled to them. But we’re not.
When the psalmist says “bless the Lord, O my soul” he is talking to himself. He is exhorting his own soul, giving it a pep talk to not forget.
And here’s how….give thanks daily, weekly and yearly. Each division of time will give you a different perspective.