Why is Giving Thanks to God so Important?

The following is a transcribed Video Q&A, so the text may not read like an edited article would. Scroll to the bottom to view this video in its entirety.

Giving thanks to God is so important and so hard. Because I think as humans we have a hard time giving thanks. Giving thanks to God, first of all recognize that everything good that we enjoy is from his hands. James 1:17 says “every good and perfect gift comes from the Father above”. So, when we give thanks it is as if we recognize whatever good I’m enjoying it is from Him. And so, thanksgiving automatically becomes praise.

But we are not only to give thanks to God for the good things we are supposed to give thanks to God for everything, even the bad things. So what happens when we give thanks to God for the things we don’t understand, for the disappointments, and for the losses, we are expressing again our trust in Him. We are saying, “I don’t understand this particular circumstance but I believe you are good and are working for good purposes.” And again, thanksgiving in that way becomes praise. It becomes a way of trusting God’s character.