“Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.” -Psalm 100:4
 
The book of Psalms is not a normal book of the Bible. Think of it as a hymnal. Yes, a hymnal. The Psalms were used for singing.

In fact, in Jewish tradition, all of the Psalms had music that accompanied each one and people knew each Psalm’s tune. And, the Psalms of thanksgiving were great because, no matter how grumpy you were feeling when you went to synagogue that morning, no matter how bad things were, you were in a way forced into community to join together in saying thank you to God. You had to stop and say thank you, and sing your thanks to God over and over, reminding yourself of your blessings.

In this way, the Psalms of thanksgiving trained its singers to be thankful even in difficult times. That’s an additional gift from God. There’s something quite special about being thankful even when you’re going through the valley.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, I sing to you my sincere thankfulness, knowing deep in my heart and soul that without you in my life, I would be lost. You are my everything. Amen.

REFLECTION: What is the first thing that comes to mind when you thank God for his blessings?