How Can I Say Thanks

How Can I Say Thanks?

The Opening Question

From the 116th Psalm, verse 12, comes a powerful question: What shall I render to the Lord for all of his benefits unto me? This is the heart of our message today—recognizing God's goodness and responding with gratitude.

Understanding God's Benefit Package

When my son mentioned wanting a job that paid more money, I took the opportunity to explain that true value isn't just in the salary. Benefits matter—health care, paid time off, 401k plans, tuition reimbursement, flexibility. Benefits show how much an organization values you and invests in your long-term care. Sometimes the benefits make the struggle of the job worth it.

The same is true with God. When you gave your life to Jesus Christ, you received eternal salvation—a home in heaven, redemption from the enemy, freedom from the penalty of sin, your name written in the Lamb's Book of Life. But salvation isn't just about the afterlife. There are benefits in the here and now that make it worthwhile to get up early and come to church, to drive around looking for parking, to sit in the sanctuary and worship God.

Benefit One: God Hears and Helps

I love the Lord because he heard my prayer and because he inclined his ear to my supplication.

We serve a God who hears and a God who answers. This is the first benefit. When you sincerely call on the name of the Lord, the Lord will hear you and the Lord will answer you.

Don't let anyone convince you that prayer doesn't work. I'm not talking about quick, commercial-break prayers. I'm talking about when you kneel at the side of your bed and lift up your voice and holler out to God: I need Thee, God. Something happens when you sincerely call on the name of the Lord.

Prayer is a privilege. God doesn't have to hear you and God doesn't have to answer you. Yet when you call, He answers. Just as I have the phone number of a high-ranking official and can reach out when I need something, how much more should we be excited that we have access to the omnipotent, eternal, sovereign God of all the earth? When you call on God and God answers a prayer, you should be the first one in line to walk into the sanctuary and say, Thank you. You didn't have to answer. You didn't have to hear. But I'm so glad that God heard my prayer and answered it.

Benefit Two: God Delivers from Danger

The pains of Sheol surrounded me. Death had a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow. But God delivered me.

The psalmist speaks of being in Sheol—a place of death and trouble. Sheol is a place; death is an experience. You don't have to die physically to be in a living hell. A job that doesn't value you can be Sheol. A loveless marriage can be a living hell. Student debt, discrimination, and hardship can all be a living Sheol that you must go through.

What's unique about Psalm 116 is that the psalmist never mentions enemies or evildoers. Perhaps the trouble wasn't caused by someone else—perhaps the psalmist brought it on himself. Some of us need to be honest that we've brought some things on ourselves. We went where we shouldn't have gone, did what we shouldn't have done. But God is so good that God got us out of some things that God never told us to get into in the first place.

Not only did the Lord deliver you from the place, but the Lord kept you from certain experiences. The Lord kept you from some things you should have gone through. Some things that should have happened didn't happen. It's hard to shout over what the Lord kept you from because you don't even know the Lord kept you from it. You don't know how close you were to that accident, how close you were to losing your life.

In 1985, Hurricane Gloria was forecast to slam into New York City. The morning after it passed, the New York Times headline read: The storm never hit. That should be the title of your life's autobiography—The storm never hit. The bankruptcy didn't kill you. The diagnosis didn't destroy you. The destruction did not come because our God hears, helps, and delivers from danger.

Benefit Three: God Goes Abundantly Above

Be at rest, my soul, because the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

You don't serve some minimal God. You serve a God who goes exceeding and abundantly above everything you think or ask. The Hebrew word for "bountifully" is gamal—which literally means to wean a child. Just as a nursing child must be weaned, God is so good to us that God breaks us from dependence on things we thought we needed.

God has dealt bountifully with you if:

• You've ever received something you know you don't deserve
• You asked God for a little and God gave you a lot
• God seated you at a table when you didn't qualify to be in the room
• You asked for one and God gave you two

When you grow in God, you realize how much you don't need from others. You don't need approval. You don't need people to like you. You don't need to compromise yourself to win favor. Because God has been so good that God broke you from dependence on human help. You can declare: I don't need nothing but God.

The Response: What Shall I Render?

So the question becomes: What shall I render unto the Lord for all of his goodness? The psalmist realizes that God's been so good that he must give God something in return. God has been too good to remain silent.

I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth.

The only thing worthy to give God in exchange is to open your mouth and to praise the Lord from the depth of your heart. Some of you might say, That's not how I worship. I don't lift my hands. I don't open my mouth. I understand. But let me ask you: If you paid for something, wouldn't you want it prepared the way you ordered it?

Once I took my mother to a steakhouse for Mother's Day. She ordered a filet mignon, extra well done. The chef objected—that cut of meat is too good for extra well done. But my mother said, Since it's my steak and it was paid for by my son, you bring it to me the way I ordered it.

Since it's the Lord's praise and it was paid for by His Son, God says: Bring it to me the way I ordered it. With your hands lifted. With your mouth open. With hallelujah from your heart.

The Song of Gratitude

Andre Crouch wrote these words in 1972:

How can I say thanks for the things you've done for me? Things so undeserved, yet you gave to prove your love for me. The voices of a million angels could not express my gratitude. All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe it all to Thee.

To God be the glory for all the things He has done. He heard you. He delivered you. He blessed you abundantly. With His blood, He has saved you. With His power, He has raised you.

To God be the glory for the things He has done.