The Great Ways of Giving Thanks to God

‘* What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord.” — PsaiM cxvi. 12-14.

But how strange and contradictory it appears! ‘‘ What shall I render? I will take.”” One would have supposed that the succession would have been in this wise: ‘* What shall I render? ...I will give.” But the Psalmist has the innermost truth of the matter. The first and best return we can make to God for one of His gifts is to take a larger gift. What shall I render unto the Lord for my daily bread? The vitally essential answer would be this — ‘I will take of the bread of life.” How shall I thank the Lord for His gift of sleep? By taking His greater gift of rest and peace. What shall I render unto the Lord for the gift of health? And here again the first return must surely be in the form of a larger receptiveness. I thank God for my bodily wholeness by accepting His higher gift of holiness. The primary way of showing gratitude for the rain which has watered the parched ground is by receiving on my dry heart the plenteous showers of grace.

That is surely the way of the Psalmist. He has been contemplating the mercies of the Lord, and he challenges his heart as to what return he can make. ‘‘ What shall I render? I will take the cup of salvation.” He is now going to take the finest thing he can see upon the Lord’s table. The Lord always keeps His best wine until the last, and the last of all will never come. Every succeeding gift is better than the one that went before it, and we best honour the Lord when, being thankful for the lesser gift, we joyfully accept the greater one. We do an ill thing to the Lord when we are profuse about His secondary gifts and indifferent about the better things upon His table. ‘‘ My joy I give unto you.”’ Have I taken that cup yet? My peace I give unto you.”” Have I taken that cup yet? “This cup is the new covenant of My blood.” Have I taken that cup yet? The first true element in all acceptable praise is the readiness to take a richer gift from God. ‘* What shall I render? I will take.”

But that is not the only form of thanksgiving we can make unto the Lord. It is fontal, but it is not final. It is the acceptance of a larger endowment for larger service. And so the Psalmist goes on to say, ‘“‘ I will pay my vows unto the Lord.’ With his enlarged capital he can now begin to discharge his obligations. He had made a certain covenant with the Lord. When the sorrows of death compassed him he made a vow unto the Lord. When he found trouble and sorrow he made a solemn vow unto the Lord. He said, ‘If I get over this I will live a more devoted life.” He got over it, and now he will keep his covenant.

And who has not made similar vows when the darkness gathered about the soul? “If ever I get my strength back I will use it in the service of His Kingdom.” Well, pay that vow. “If ever I get out of this darkness I will take a lamp and light somebody else through the gloom.” Well, pay that vow. ‘If the Lord will only give me the comforts of His grace, I will lead others to the springs of consolation.’ Well, pay that vow. This man’s midnight vow was redeemed in the morning.