As you prepare for this Thanksgiving holy day, we offer you these excerpts from a teaching from Pastor Chuck Smith, founder of the Calvary Chapel Movement. This undated message focuses on Psalm 116. 

What shall I render to the LORD for all His benefits toward me? Psalm 116:12

The psalmist asks this interesting question, [one] that should be of concern to all of us. The question is, What shall I surrender to the Lord for all of his benefits toward me?

The psalmist directs our thoughts to all that God has done for us. Paul, in writing to Timothy, said that God has given to us all things freely to enjoy, and you think of the things that God has created just for your enjoyment.

I enjoy immensely looking up at the sky at night when it is a clear night. I'm on the top of a mountain or out in the desert far away from the light pollution of the cities and see the thousands of stars that God has placed there in the sky. They tell us that there are billions of stars in each galaxy and billions of galaxies. I mean, why would God make so many I could enjoy? I don't have to have that many to enjoy. God was rather extravagant, I think, in His creation, and I'm amazed at God's extravagance.

The Cup of Salvation

For I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. Psalm 116:13

What can I render unto God for all of His benefits towards me? The psalmist answers this question, but in verse 13 as he begins to talk about what he is going to give to God, he says, “I will take the cup of salvation.” Now isn't that interesting? In reality, before you can give anything to God, it is necessary that you take from God the cup of salvation.

You see, it is by the receiving of the cup of salvation that the door is open for you to come to God—you now have access to God. You now can come to Him in fellowship. Prior to that, your sin has separated you from God, and you can't give Him anything if you wanted to. So, before I can actually give anything to God because of all of His benefits to me, I must first of all, take that benefit of salvation that God has offered to me through Jesus Christ.

The Peace Offering

O LORD, truly I am Your servant; … You have loosened my bonds. I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD. Psalm 116:16-17

[The peace offering, following the sin offering] was just a time of thankfulness unto God. God had done something special; [they wanted] to just spend some time thanking Him, communing with Him in the peace offering. [They’d] sit there with [the] family. It had the leavened bread. The other offerings had to be of unleavened bread, but this was leavened bread, and [they’d] just enjoy a meal with God, fellowshipping with Him. God has partaken. [They] offered a part of the lamb as a sacrifice there on the altar, and it ascended in that smoke as a sweet-smelling savor unto God. This [was] a time where they recognized and honored the presence of God and gave thanks as they feasted together.

We [also can] sit with God and we eat with Him in Thanksgiving, remembering all that He has done for us.

Our Thanksgiving Day

We have a day coming this week, Thanksgiving Day. It's a beautiful tradition that was started back in the time of the colonies when the early Puritans, going through all of the hardships and difficulties of colonizing the United States, would often gather the people together and call them to a day of fasting and prayer. They had hard winters, and many of them did not survive. There were often calls by the Puritan fathers for the people to spend the day in fasting and prayer. The time had come, it was fall, and they had gathered the people together again.

As they were making the call of sacrifice and fasting and prayer, one of the old Puritans stood up and he said, “We've had an extremely good crop this year, we have sufficient corn to see us through the winter months, we've been able to lay up enough food, and we've really been blessed this year. I think that this year, instead of a day of fasting, we ought to call a day of feasting and Thanksgiving, where we just give thanks to God for all that He has done. And it caught.

The people unanimously agreed on a day of feasting and Thanksgiving. That was the beginning of this tradition here in the United States. A very beautiful tradition indeed. A day of giving thanks to God as we gather with the family and think of all of God's benefits and blessings, just give thanks to God on this day.

The Chair

As I was preparing for this message, a thought came to my mind. I'm going to suggest to my family that we set a chair and a place at the table for the Lord this Thanksgiving so that when the grandchildren say, “Who's that chair for?” we can say to them, “Well, that's for the Lord, for He said wherever two or three of you are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst.” [It can remind us] of the fact that we are there to honor Him. We're there to give thanks to Him, and that empty chair will be the reminder of the presence of the Lord with us. For he said, “Lo I am with you always, even to the end of this age.”  

The Jews, when they have their feast of Passover, always have a chair that's set for the prophet Elijah. They leave the door open, because they believe the promise of God that one day Elijah is going to come to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers. Thus, they have the chair and the place at the table for Elijah. Should this be the day that Elijah comes, the place is set for him, and he's welcome to come into the house. If they can do that at their feast of Passover for Elijah, I thought it would be great for us to do it at our Thanksgiving feast for the Lord.

We recognize His presence with us, and we thank Him for all of His benefits towards us. What can I render? What does He want? He just wants to spend some quality time with us telling us how much He loves us—and receiving from us our love for Him. Surely, we can give Him that. Shall we pray?

Prayer for Thanksgiving

“Father, when we think of all that You are—of Your grace and Your love, Your righteousness, and Your mercy; when we think of all that You've given to us—salvation, eternal life, our daily bread—Lord, we wonder just what can we give to You that You would find meaningful? We give You our hearts, our lives, and we pray that You will bless as we offer to You the sacrifice of Thanksgiving as we sit with our children and our families to partake of the bounty that You have provided. Help us to remember You and to give thanks to You for all your benefits toward us through Jesus Christ. Amen.”

May it be a beautiful week, a very meaningful week, as God ministers to your heart from the depth of His love and grace through Jesus.

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