11 Give us aid against the enemy, for the help of man is worthless. 12 With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies.

From the time that Israel was established as a nation they faced the temptation to trust in the nations around them instead of trusting in God. Often it was Egypt and all that great country had to defend itself. In the olden days it was horses and chariots; in later years it is a modern military armed with the latest technology. God often rebuked Isreal because they would trust in Egypt instead of trusting in him and his power. Whether we apply it to a nation, a family or to each as individuals does not change the principle that God has given. We are to trust him in all we face. This includes times of prosperity, times of hardship, sickness or good health, when we are on the most loved list or when we can’t find a single friend. We are to trust God in all things.

As we come to trust him to defend us and to take care of us we naturally come to recognize his power and his strength. We see his wisdom as it has played out in our lives. The more we trust, the more we give thanks to him. It is he who made us and we give him thanks for this. It is he who provided the food we eat, the air we breathe and the beauty all around. God has given us our jobs and our financial security. It is God who has given us our friends in Jesus who (for some) are closer than our earthly family. It is he alone who has given us our earthly families and our heritage. It is by his grace and his choice that we live in a great country that affords us freedom to worship him and allows us to openly speak his name.

While it is good for us to be thankful to our country, to the many soldiers and veterans, to our leaders; it is God who has established this great country and it is he who must be thanked above all. We need to thank our families for the love and support they afford but more than that we must thank God who placed us in that family. It is right for us to be thankful for our church families and the encouragement they give but it is God who established his church and added us to this great fellowship. We thank God for his wisdom toward us. We thank him for his goodness when we don’t deserve it. We thank God for all the physical blessings that we too often take for granted or think we provided for ourselves. But most of all, we thank God for his Son, Jesus, who loved us, lived for us and died in our place that we might belong to him with a promise of eternal life. We thank him for his indwelling Spirit.

O God, thank you for all these things, plus so many more that I cannot name them all. You alone are God! Help me to thank you by trusting you. In the name of Jesus I offer this prayer. May God bless each of us today.