Give Thanks to the Holy One

Pastor Gary Oser

I love the great, old Thanksgiving hymns like, “Now Thank We all Our God,” “We Gather Together” and “Come Ye Thankful People, Come.” I have shared the story behind “Now Thank We All Our God,” but there are also some newer Thanksgiving songs which are meaningful as well, such as “Give Thanks.”

Though often credited to Don Moen, the song was actually written by Henry Smith in 1978 when Smith was going through some difficulties.

When he graduated college, he had a hard time finding work. He also had a degenerative eye condition which left him nearly blind. However, one morning in Williamsburg, VA, he heard his pastor preach on 2 Corinthians 6:10 which says, “…as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.” It was upon hearing these words Smith wrote the words to “Give Thanks.”

Smith and his future wife, Cindy, sang the song at church on several occasions. Then, a military couple attending the same church took the song with them to Germany where they were stationed. It became popular there before it later gained popularity in the United States.

This Thanksgiving season, I hope you will do what the song exhorts us to do:

“Give thanks with a grateful heart; give thanks to the Holy One; give thanks because He’s given Jesus Christ, His Son. Give thanks with a grateful heart; give thanks to the Holy One; give thanks because He‘s given Jesus Christ, His Son.

And now let the weak say,' ‘I am strong,’ let the poor say, ‘I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us.’ And now let the weak say, ‘I am strong,’ let the poor say, ‘I am rich because of what the Lord has done for us.’ Give thanks!”

Regardless of what you may be going through, would you take time to give genuine thanks to the Lord with a grateful heart because He has given Jesus, His Son, to be your Savior and has blessed you far more than you deserve?