Word of Encouragement (09/04/2024)

Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works! Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! Seek the Lord and his strength; seek his presence continually! Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles and the judgments he uttered, O offspring of Israel his servant, children of Jacob, his chosen ones! (1 Chron. 16:8-13)

This morning, let us reflect on how this string of imperatives shows different aspects of God and His goodness.

David calls on us to give thanks to the Lord because, by allowing His ark to come into the city of David, God assured him of His presence with him and his people. We should give thanks to God: He deserves our thanksgiving. Even unbelievers ought to give thanks to God because they are sustained by God’s common grace even though they are under the covenant of life (which is a covenant of works). Grace is God’s undeserved and demerited favor to sinners. By common grace, they receive whatever they enjoy in this life and are spared from the punishment they deserve (for a time until Judgment Day). So, they ought to give thanks to God for all they have even though they don’t. Believers, on the other hand, are under the covenant of grace. Grace is the mode of God’s dealings with His people. If unbelievers ought to give thanks to the Lord, we all the more. We cannot claim that we have earned anything on our own. We must acknowledge that all that we are and all that we have are by the grace of God. If that is the case, then we ought to give thanks to God for all things, including our sufferings. For these sufferings are no longer God’s punishment for our sins because Christ by His death has removed the condemnation of the law once and for all. Therefore, these sufferings, coming from the nail-pierced hands of Christ, are ultimately for our good, not for our evil; we will soon praise God for them when the good He intended will be made manifest.

Upon the ark's arrival in Jerusalem, David calls on the people of God to call upon God’s name. It is a privilege to call upon God’s name. To call upon God’s name, we must know His name. To know God’s name, biblically speaking, is to know Him in a personal, intimate way. This is what God means when He declares that He knows us by our names: “I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name” (Isa. 45:3).

Also, this invitation to call upon God’s name shows that God made Himself available to us. There is a close link between calling upon God’s name and His availability: “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near...” (Isa. 55:6); “And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God’” (Zech. 13:9). Oh, how near God is to us in Jesus Christ! “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14). And He has poured out His Spirit on us so the He might dwell in us and work out His salvation!

Let us give thanks to the Lord and call upon His name!

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