“It is a good thing to give thanks unto the LORD, and to sing praises to Your Name, O Most High.” Psalm 92:1

Years ago, I decided to learn how to dance, how to play musical instruments and how to sing tenor.

So, when it comes to praise and worship in church, it’s rare that I can finish it without wiping sweat from my face.

Written by King David, Psalm 92 carries the title, ‘Psalm for the Sabbath Day,’ meaning that it was a liturgical song that was intended to be sung during Sabbath worship.

One of the unique features of this psalm is that King David, a great musician himself since his youth, included musical instructions, which indicate that it was meant to be sung publicly with the accompaniment of musical instruments in a communal praise and worship setting.

The psalm begins with a call to a public celebration of the Lord, corporately praising God and declaring His goodness in the temple.

The Hebrew word for “give thanks” means to give public acknowledgement or to praise God verbally in a public setting.

The same word is used in Psalm 35:18, which says; “I will give You thanks in the great congregation: I will praise You among much people.”

In the United States, ‘Thanksgiving Day’ has been a major national public holiday since 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed it as a day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.”

Thanksgiving Day is celebrated annually on the fourth Thursday of November.

Thanksgiving Day is primarily a time for families and friends to gather together, and millions of people travels thousands of miles to be with their loved ones. 

The holiday essentially focuses on God’s Providence and people testify of God’s goodness before the meal, while major cities hold massive parades.

In churches across the various denominations, Thanksgiving is a special time for sermons about gratitude as well as communal praise and worship and testimonies – basically an opportunity for believers to pause, reflect and give thanks to God for His blessings in their lives.

Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, His praise in the assembly of His faithful people. Let Israel rejoice in their Maker; let the people of Zion be glad in their King. Let them praise His Name with dancing and make music to Him with [tambourines] and [stringed musical instruments].

PSALM 149:1-3, NIV

Choirs and musicians prepare special music, mainly hymns and songs of celebration that focus on gratitude, thankfulness, praise, and worship to God.

Is it any wonder that the USA remains the world’s most prosperous nation?

Of course, we don’t have to wait for a single day in the entire year to engage in thanksgiving.

As the psalmist says, we should do it in our homes first thing in the morning, in the evening before we go to bed and when we get together every Sunday.

Indeed, Christians in Africa are famous the world over for their enthusiasm, fervour and gusto when it comes to dancing and praising Jesus Christ in church.

I believe that King David would be extremely proud of us; that was his style too when it came to thanksgiving for God’s Providence. Indeed, he calls it a “good thing” meaning that not doing it is a bad thing!

In 2 Samuel 6:14, the Bible says David “danced before the Lord with all his might” so much that when his wife, Saul’s daughter, “saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.”

“I will celebrate before the Lord,” he assured her later. “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes” (verses 21-22).

So, what is your personal resolve and attitude to public praise and worship for God’s blessings in your life?

Are you the shy or ‘dignified’ type who refrains from celebrating before the Lord under the cover of so-called ‘reverence’ and ‘respect’ for God’s house?

As the Bibles says in Psalm 149:1-3, it is a good thing for us to “praise His name with the dance;” and with drums and other musical instruments “for the LORD takes pleasure in His people.”

Come on now; never, I repeat never, be shy or apologetic to anyone when it comes to thanksgiving and praising God for His blessings and goodness in your life!