For July 6, 2019
Although Psalm 136:1 (KJV) reminds us: “O give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endures for ever,” yet we often take His goodness and mercy for granted. Luke 17 illustrates this phenomenon, where the Lord healed ten men who were lepers while passing through Samaria and Galilee. Yet only one returned to thank Him!
We can give thanks unto the Lord for many things today. I am grateful to live in a country He has blessed in many marvelous ways—often taken for 
granted: to worship freely, to express our opinions without censorship, to elect our representation, to travel without restraint when and where we want, and to enjoy goods and services that enhance our overall standard of living.
Beyond these blessings, the Lord continues to show His goodness and mercy by sustaining our overall quality of life. In other words, He lovingly and mercifully provides us with common, critical events and activities each moment: that breath you just received from Him; the beating of your heart that sustains your life; the ability to think; to speak; to move; etc.
Even more than these acts of goodness and mercy, we can give thanks unto the Lord for His eternal spiritual and moral workings He chose and perfected for us—while we were yet sinners. Here, the Lord Jesus Christ expressed His goodness and mercy by reconciling us to God through His death and resurrection.
Then He provides all we need to experience an abundant, fulfilling life in this world along with an eternal, glorious life in the next. We do not have to work for His reconciling work. We can receive it freely by putting our faith in Him alone.
“Forgiven and free” aptly describes our new relationship with the Lord. Without Him, we are utterly hopeless with hardship now and eternal torment later. We have ultimate victory just as our Lord declares in John 8:36 (NASB):
So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.
Truly, when we consider all that the Lord has done and is doing for us, we can give thanks unto the LORD; for He is good: for His mercy endures forever. What a wonderful Savior!