When is “God, I Thank You…” NOT an acceptable Thanksgiving Prayer?

Ah, the sweet, innocent prayer of a 3 year old.

The angelic head was bowed to nearly touching the table.  His eyes were scrunched shut and his chubby hands clasped.  His soft voice mumbled through the normal toddler realm of thankfulness… “Thank you, God, for Mommy.  Thank you, God for Daddy.  Thank you, God for my dog.  Thank you, God for Gramma and Grammpa.  Thank you for our snack.  Oh, and thank you God that I can run lots faster than my brother!”

This humorous prayer, from a child in our tiny tots class several years ago, is acceptable, adorable even, in a 3 year old who is just learning about himself, his brother, and praying to God.  But from a teacher, we would not expect to hear such self- elevating words in a prayer of thanks to God, would we?  However, in Luke 18:9-14, Jesus tells the story of  a teacher, a Pharisee, praying just such a prayer in the temple:

The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. ¹² I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ (Luke 18:11-12)

The Pharisee started his prayer with “God, I thank You…”  It sounds like a prayer of thanksgiving.  What is wrong with this prayer?  When we look at what this man was thankful for, it was for all his abilities.  I am thankful that I am better than others, that I am not unjust, that I am not an adulterer, that I am one who fasts, that I am not an extortioner, that I am a tither, that I am not… this tax collector.”  When this man came to the temple to seemingly offer thanksgiving, who was he praising?  Who was he thanking?  Who was on the throne to receive his praise… He replaced God, the Great I AM, the one who is worthy of all praise and thanksgiving, with himself.  He was in the dangerous place of putting confidence in his flesh, of trusting in himself as “I am”.  The verse even states, he stood and prayed with “himself”.

This prayer, even though it begins with “God, I thank you…” was an unacceptable thanksgiving prayer to the Lord.

The tax collector, on the other hand, knew that he had sinned.  His head was bowed low and he beat his chest in agony.  He begged God’s mercy.

“God, be merciful to me a sinner!”  

Jesus concludes the parable by saying that this tax collector was justified.  The self-righteous Pharisee was not.

Psalm 100 is called a Psalm of Thanksgiving

1 Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands.

² Serve the Lord with gladness: come before his presence with singing.

³ Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

⁴ Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

⁵ For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

In these 5 verses, we see that thanksgiving to the Lord involves singing, joyful shouts, glad service!   It acknowledges God as our creator and shepherd.  His people are inside His gates thanking, and praising His goodness, mercy, and truth.  This Thanksgiving sounds like quite a celebration!

C.H. Spurgeon in his Treasury of David, notes on verse 4 of this Psalm that “Mercy permits us to enter his gates; let us praise that mercy”  The tax collector in Luke 18 received that mercy when he repented and asked God for it.   The tax collector could now go in to the joyous party.   The Pharisee, however, never even made it inside the gate.

As the Thanksgiving season is upon us, let us first make sure that we have obtained the mercy from God that allows us to enter the gates of the Lord to offer a prayer of thanksgiving.  Then, let us make sure that we focus our thankfulness, not on our abilities, but on God and all that He is.

 

Thanksgiving Hymn– The Old Hundredth:

1 All people that on earth do dwell,
sing to the Lord with cheerful voice;
him serve with mirth, his praise forth tell.
Come ye before him and rejoice.

2 Know that the Lord is God indeed;
without our aid he did us make;
we are his folk; he doth us feed,
and for his sheep he doth us take.

3 O enter then his gates with praise;
approach with joy his courts unto;
praise, laud, and bless his name always,
for it is seemly so to do.

4 For why? The Lord our God is good;
his mercy is forever sure;
his truth at all times firmly stood,
and shall from age to age endure.

from hymnary.org

With Joy,

Kathleen

photo credit: Ethiopia: Innocent Prayers of a Young Child via photopin (license)