In His Proper Place

“It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and sing praises unto Your name, O Most High.” ~Psalm 92:1

This past Sunday my pastor gave a “Thanksgiving message.” At first I sat back thinking, “I have heard this all before.” Two minutes later I was frantically taking notes and jotting down key phrases, which were amazing truths of Scripture. Every Christian can quote, “It is good to give thanks unto the Lord” but until Sunday I had never thought of giving thanks to the Lord in this light.

Giving thanks to the Lord is necessary and good because it puts God in His proper place. When I fail to praise the Lord it is because I am being self-focused and not putting God as the focal point of my life and thoughts from day-to-day. Really, doing anything without thanksgiving is taking God out of a situation or area of life. This attempt to compartmentalize areas in my life is nothing more than an excuse to not discipline myself to thank the Lord and pray to Him without ceasing. Every view in life must come from making Christ Lord over that area. Through putting Him in His proper place as Lord, He will bless me and I will be consequently thankful.

The founding of our nation and the provision of almighty God is the reason that we celebrate Thanksgiving in These United Sates of America. Although the Pilgrims left England because of a lack of religious freedom, they left Holland because their children were being negatively influenced. The men and women who founded this nation understood that God must be given His proper place in education, family life, worship and government This act of true worship and thanksgiving was honored by almighty God. However, we cannot expect this blessing of the Lord to continue when we fail to give Him His proper place in government and education. William Penn put it this way: "Men must choose to be governed by God, or condemn themselves to be governed by tyrants."