The Scottish novelist, Robert Louis Stevenson, once said, “The person who has stopped being thankful has fallen asleep in life.” In other words, even in the darkest moments of life there is always something for which people can be grateful and to not recognize that is to be knowingly or ignorantly unconscious. 

Now, if that’s true in general, how much more for God’s people in particular? Are we not totally forgiven? Are we not kept near the Father through the Son by the Spirit? Are we not loved beyond comprehension? Are we not headed toward everlasting paradise? Surely Christians can amend Stevenson’s sentiment and say with confidence, “The people of Godwho have stopped being thankful have fallen asleep in life!” 

But sometimes we need a reminder because the years can bring difficulties and sometimes we need a model because we forget how and why to say “thank you” to God. Psalm 30 provides both.