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Psalm 9:1-6  
To the choirmaster: according to Muthlabben. A Psalm of David.

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High. When my enemies turn back, they stumble and perish before your presence. For you have maintained my just cause; you have sat on the throne, giving righteous judgment. You have rebuked the nations; you have made the wicked perish; you have blotted out their name forever and ever. The enemy came to an end in everlasting ruins; their cities you rooted out; the very memory of them has perished. (ESV)

Thanksgiving is neither conditional nor compartmentalized. Thanksgiving does not say, “I will thank you if…” or “I thank you, God, for this but not for that.” Thanksgiving does not hold out or hold back. Thanksgiving is the expression of the “whole heart.”

We can praise God with all we have because He is always on our side. He will turn back the enemies that attack us. Through Jesus, the unavoidable enemy has been defeated. Death was destroyed at the cross and through the glorious resurrection. The final enemy has come to “an end in everlasting ruins.”

I don’t know what you are up against. Maybe it is an uncertain future, a challenging relationship, a health issue that is slowing you down, or an illness that seems unbeatable. I don’t know how God will choose to work in your situation. But I do know this: Jesus has defeated death, our final enemy. Our present may be shaking, but through Him our eternity is unshakeable. 

Father, I thank You with my whole heart for all the things in my life. I admit it is hard to thank You for some of the circumstances I am going through but I know that somehow You are working everything out for good. Thank You for the certainty that my final enemy has come to an end in everlasting ruins. Thank You in Jesus’ name. Amen.