Enter into His gates with thanksgiving

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” - Psalms 100v4-5

Thanksgiving is a consistent, regular, and dominate theme in the word of God. Why then do so few of us ever learn to be thankful Christians? Why, as a rule, are we not thankful? We whinge and complain about the weather, the traffic, our jobs, other people, and everything else under the son. We are thankful when things go “our way” but not when they don’t.

There is an obvious reason why thankfulness is so hard. We focus our thoughts on our circumstances instead of on the Lord. Verse four tells us to be thankful and praise God – verse five gives us the reasons. Note that none of these reasons has anything to do with our circumstances. These are eternal truths that do not vary.

The Lord is good
His mercy is everlasting
His truth endures to all generations

The Lord is good no matter what I perceive today. God’s mercy is everlasting no matter how I may struggle. God’s truth endures, no matter how string the opposition is.

Indeed, we must be heed the words of this passage – “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, be thankful unto Him and bless His HOLY name”