“Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in Whom this world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.”

It’s hard to imagine the conditions of Martin Rinkart’s (1586-1649) life when he wrote this great hymn. He was a Lutheran pastor at Eilenburg, Saxony, during the time of the Thirty Years War. The town suffered from plague and famine during the war, with Rinkart at one point conducting funerals for 40-50 people a day, including his own wife. I have trouble seeing how anyone could be thankful to God in the midst of such horror, but Rinkart managed it.

Paul instructs the Colossians, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Keep giving thanks to God in everything. But what if you don’t feel thankful. Isn’t it hypocritical to give thanks when you don’t feel it? Hypocrisy has nothing to do with feelings. To be hypocritical is to advocate one thing, but do another. What’s being encouraged here is to be thankful despite feelings. In fact, it might be good to pray, “God I thank you for all that you have given to me even though I don’t feel all that thankful right now.” It’s an honest expression of feeling that still gives thanks.

What wondrous things God has done! It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Read Psalm 100 (and if you have a Bible with the Apocrypha read Sirach 50:22-24) and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Originally posted by Wayne in November 2018