Psalm 50:14 Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High.
A long time ago I bought my first car. It was an Escort GT with a spoiler on the back, and it wanted to be a Corvette when it grew up. I remember making payments on that car for a short time and then paying it off. I remember when I got the title to that car, meaning that I owned that car. There is a good feeling when you own something, when you’ve got the title to it, but it is a bad feeling when you go through life feeling as if you are entitled to everything. Sometimes we feel entitled to friends, respect, or happiness. When I say entitled, I mean having a right to certain benefits or privileges. We are living in a day and country where it seems everyone feels entitled.
Years ago, McDonald’s theme was “You deserve a break today.” I’m not here to go after McDonald’s, but that does indeed voice a sentiment that is very prevalent. I heard an ad yesterday that said, “We all deserve better.” Says who? Why do we deserve better? Instagram has an ad that says, “You can be whatever you want to be.” Well, I might be sympathetic with that sentiment, but could I be an NFL quarterback just because I want to be? No! Could I be a bird just because I jump off the side of a building? No!
The bottom line is that we are living in a day where we are self-made and absorbed with self-esteem and selfies; we are selfish. There aren’t many heroes today. There aren’t many people who are making sacrifices. There are many who just feel as if they have been done wrong to. People who feel entitled never feel happy because they never feel thankful. In fact, I think there is almost an inverse proportion that the more one has, the less one tends to be thankful.
Thankful people remember three truths in regards to God. First, God doesn’t need you. In Psalm 50:1 it says, “The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.” God is bringing the universe into His cosmic courtroom from one end of the horizon to the other. He calls out His own people, “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.” He goes on to say, “I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices…to have been continually before me. I will take no bullock out of thy house…for every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.”
God’s people were bringing sacrifices to Him, and many of them probably felt self-satisfied. They thought, “God owes us. Look at all the sacrifices we are bringing to Him. He’d be hungry if it were not for us.” That may sound silly and oversimplified, but that is the idea.
Verses 9 and following remind us that God does not need us. In verse 11 God says, “I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.” God is saying, “I don’t need anything you bring to me. I made these animals and all that there is.” Sometimes we think, “If that person would just give their life to God, how God could use them!” The fact is, God does not need you; God made you. God does not need you; God loves you. That is extraordinary because most of the people you and I love we also need. You love your mother, but you need your mother. You love your friends, but you need your friends. I have a lap dog named Bromley, and she loves me. She does love me, I think, but I know I have bribed her all of her life. I feed her and take care of her, and she loves me because she needs me. God loves you, but it is not because He needs you.
Second, thankful people remember that God does not owe you. God says in verse 12, “If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof.” He is saying, “I don’t owe you anything because of the sacrifices you have brought to Me.” Verse 14 says, “Offer unto God thanksgiving.” The only thing I can offer God that God has not given me first is gratitude. My abilities, gifts, opportunities, family, and every good thing is from God. Even if I hone those and work hard, God has given me the very breath I breathe. So, don’t compare yourselves to others, and don’t despair that you don’t measure up to someone else because God made you.
Third, thankful people remember that God does not ignore you. Verse 15 says, “And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” We have trouble and God gives help. If there is no trouble, there are no prayers. If there are no prayers, there is no God. If there is no God, there is no thanks.
The context of so many psalms is trouble, trouble, trouble, and that turns a wise person to God. God provides, and we give thanks. We give the credit where it is due. We should never think God’s silence is His ignorance or His ignoring us. There are evil people who think they are getting away with things, and God says in verses 21 and 22, “These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes. Now consider this, ye that forget God.” We may forget God, but God never forgets us.
So, thankful people are happier because they remember God. Every blessing is undeserved. Am I entitled, do I have the title deed to the universe? No! God deals with me not according to what I deserve, because that would be judgment. God deals with me according to His grace. God loves me. He doesn’t need me, owe me, or forget or ignore me. Those are three things that thankful people remember.