“Give Thanks!” For What Exactly?

Our psalmist’s words exude self-satisfaction. Somebody is having a very good day!

For people like the writer—who ruminates constantly on the divine commandments—there is never a misstep. They are immersed in God’s ordinances, enjoying the sweetness of these venerable scrolls of wisdom. Surpassing the elders and the educated in insight, wiser than their teachers and any enemies who might set a trap for them, they embody faithfulness and shun evil. The precepts provide understanding so they can avoid paths that would lead them astray.

From the text we have no reason to doubt this self-portrait. From the larger story, we might be a tad skeptical.

It is easy to lean less on divine wisdom and more on our own. We claim, with perhaps a bit too much self-assurance, that we know what the Bible says about this or that. On this teaching or that moral issue or this social justice struggle, we declare emphatically that our interpretation is correct, and all others are wrong.

Giving thanks for our own gifts and talents is a worthy exercise. Confusing them with uncontainable divine wisdom is a huge mistake. Like the land we occupy, the Word of God is less our possession than a gift we continually receive, one that we are called to grasp lightly so that we may deploy it in love and service among neighbors, strangers, and enemies. We seek understanding but not for our own sake. God’s precepts are both guardrails that keep us secure and vehicles through which we can speak good news of assurance, hope, and peace. In this way the honeycomb of sweet truth with which God entices us will be both a delight and nourishment to all with whom we share it.