I won’t belabor this. It’s just a simple observation.

Frequently, in the Old Testament, where Israel expresses thanksgiving, the phrase “for His love endures forever” or “for His unfailing love,” also often preceded by “for He is good.” Perhaps just as frequently, you will find the word “praise” in the same verse or nearby.

And, as I’ve pointed out in a separate post earlier (The Thirteenth Apostle’s Thanksgiving), when Paul expresses thanksgiving, it is very often thankfulness for his fellow believers.

It strikes me as a contrast to what we believers express thanks for today: a free country, food, blessings (generic language, sometimes, for exceptional wealth), and — yes — friends, family, church family. All the things that bless us.

Sure, there are plenty of hymns of thanksgiving in scripture — for deliverance from slavery, defeat, disaster; for flocks and fertile fields; for all kinds of temporal blessings that make life bearable to enjoyable.

But how often do we include in our thanksgiving a praise for God’s goodness, and the recognition that His love endures forever?

Maybe if we did so more often, we’d be more thankful for God’s goodness to — and sovereignty over — the entire world (as the singers of scripture repeat again and again, in addition to their laud for His preservation of Israel) rather than just our nation, our friends, our family, and our own satisfaction.