Bless Yahweh, O My Soul”
Deuteronomy 8:11-17
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Deut 8:11-17 11 “Beware that you do not forget Yahweh your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12 lest—when you have eaten and are [full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end— 17 then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
Dear fellow redeemed in Christ our Lord… As we prayed together in today’s psalmody from Psalm 103, “Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” To bless Yahweh here means to thank Him. We are gathered on this holiday precisely for that purpose, that we might remember and give thanks to our good and gracious God – our Savior – for all the benefits He has bestowed on us.
We know all too well how prone we are to forget God and His blessings and benefits. We forget because we are all wrapped up in our own little worlds, especially in this calendar year 2020. We forget because we are tempted to think that it is to our own credit that we have gotten where we are in life or made it through this crazy virus-filled year. It is as Moses warned Israel, “Beware, lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth.” Then Moses counsels us, “When you have eaten and are satisfied, bless Yahweh your God for the good land He has given you” (Deut 11). We are not to be so wrapped up in the things of creation that we forget our Creator. We honor Him and thank Him as the Source of all that is good.
In Romans 1:21, St. Paul describes ingratitude as one of the key characteristics of unbelief. “For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.” And Martin Luther famously and prophetically warned the Germans of his day what would happen for lack of thanksgiving, something which we in this nation should also take to heart: “Let us remember our former misery, and the darkness in which we dwelt. Germany, I am sure, has never before heard so much of God’s word as it is hearing today. . . If we let it just slip by without thanks and honor, I fear we shall suffer a still more dreadful darkness and plague.” . Make use of God’s grace and word while it is there! For you should know that God’s word and grace is like a passing shower of rain which does not return where it has once been. vIt has been with the Jews, but when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have nothing. Paul brought it to the Greeks; but again when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have the Muslim Turk. Rome and the Latins also had it; but when it’s gone it’s gone, and now they have the pope. And you Germans need not think that you will have it forever, for ingratitude and contempt will not make it stay. Therefore, seize it and hold it fast.” (Weimar Edition, vol. 15) Perhaps we can learn something from brother Martin.
“Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.” First of all, forget not the daily bread God provides you, the material gifts which He has granted you. In the Small Catechism under the Fourth Petition of the Our Father, we confess that “daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.” We might include in that list a number of things we too often take for granted, like indoor plumbing and plug-in electricity and computers and antibiotics and fresh produce throughout the winter months…oh, and toilet paper. All of that and more is a gift from the Lord.
God has given us all that we are and all that we have. We may have worked for some or even most of it, but who gave us the ability to work? Who gave us the ability to think and speak and see and hear? Who continues to sustain our bodies and sustain this nation in such a way that we can enjoy these created blessings? It is not mother nature or mother earth; it is God the Father, who together with the Son and the Holy Spirit is the one true God, the Blessed Holy Trinity. God does all of this for us – not because we have earned it or deserved it, but simply because He is good and merciful. He is our Father, a God of love who delights in giving us His good gifts.
Again in the Fourth Petition we confess that “God gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people. But we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.” God doesn’t ask us to pray for daily bread as a condition of our receiving it, and if we don’t ask nicely, He’s not going to provide. No, God asks us to pray for daily bread so that we will be reminded where it comes from; to Him is due all the credit and praise.
But God even sustains and cares for those who do not recognize Him as the Giver. That’s because God is so good, He even provides for the needs of those who reject Him, that seeing His kindness they might come to repent and believe and be saved.
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But then the question arises: What about when it seems that God’s kindness has been taken from us and the provision of daily bread seems to be failing? What about when wars or famines occur or the economy and our financial situation doesn’t look so good? What about when our vision and hearing fail and our health deteriorates? What about when people turn against us? Do we still have anything to give thanks for? Can we still say, “Bless Yahweh, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits”? The answer is: Absolutely, yes!
To be sure, in this fallen world we are bound to experience many troubles. Temporal blessings are just that, temporal, earthly, temporary. Sin ruins everything in the end, from international relations right down to our very bodies. Through these things God seeks to humble us and turn us back to Himself. The fact that God restrains the effects of evil as much as He does in this world and protects us and allows us to enjoy anything at all is a sign of His mercy.
But the greatest and truest sign of God’s kindness toward us – the greatest benefit for which we give thanks to God – is that He has granted us every eternal blessing in His Son, Jesus Christ. Sin may eventually ruin everything in this world, but our Lord conquered sin in His death on the cross, and through His resurrection He has made all things new. Jesus has redeemed this fallen creation from the curse by bearing the curse in His body. He broke the curse on Good Friday and set us free to live in a never-ending Easter of life and immortality.
In Jesus we have not only daily bread, but the Living Bread from heaven, His life-giving flesh and blood which He offered up for the world. In Him we have not only earthly clothing, but the robe of His righteousness which we were given to wear at the font. In Him we have not only a temporary house to live in, but an eternal home which He has prepared for us.
That is how St. Paul, when He was in jail for preaching the Gospel, could say, I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content: 12 I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound. Everywhere and in all things I have learned both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. 13 I can do all things through [f]Christ who strengthens me (Phil 4:11-13). Even when Paul was beaten and deprived of everything but the clothes on his back, he still had Christ. And the fact of the matter is that if we have Christ, we have everything. For all things belong to the risen Christ, and through Christ the Father will graciously give us all things.
Is there no peace in this world or in your relationships? In Christ you have the peace that passes all understanding to guard your hearts and minds, the peace that comes from the full and free forgiveness of your sins, the reconciliation of being restored to the Father. Does financial difficulty threaten you? In Christ you are made rich with the promise that God will never leave you or forsake and with heavenly treasures that will never pass away. Do certain enemies harass you or make you fearful? In Christ you have deliverance from all enemies by His crushing of the devil’s head at Calvary. Is your health failing? In Christ you have perfect health in the resurrection of the body. Has death separated you from a loved one? In Christ you have a joyous reunion with those you love who have departed in the faith. If you have Jesus, you have it all – by faith now, and by sight when He comes again.
Our thanksgiving is not based primarily on the circumstances of our life. Our thanksgiving is based first and foremost on our relationship with God, which has been reconciled through the precious blood of the Lamb of God. Every single one of us, then, has reason to give thanks to God this day, because when it comes to the most important things – eternal things – we have been blessed beyond our ability to comprehend.
The true worship of God is simply to give Him thanks. In the end that is just about all that we can truly give to Him anyway, since He is the source of all things. The Psalmist says, “What shall I render to Yahweh for all His benefits to me? I will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call on the name of Yahweh.” (Ps 116:12-13). What a privilege it is them to call on His name and give Him thanks for our daily bread, for family and friends, for this great land, and for countless other things.
But above all, we give thanks for Christ’s holy cross, for God’s saving Gospel, and for our Lord’s life-giving Sacraments, and for the real and everlasting life that we have in Him. Let us say with the Psalmist, this day and every day, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits.”
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
