Gratitude
The human brain is an absolute marvel.
All animal brains help creatures interact with the world and survive, but the human brain, with our massive prefrontal cortex, gives us the capacity for language and insight and even the ability to ponder our own existence.
But probably the most amazing thing to me about our brains is that they are constantly changing. Every day the neurons in your brain are rewiring themselves to do things more efficiently.
For most of human history, this changeability (or neuroplasticity) of our brains was a superpower.
When we encountered some delicious new fruit in the jungle, our brains would say, “Yes! More of this!” And we’d be more likely to seek out that nourishing fruit in the future. Our changing brain helped us grow.
It would also help us avoid danger. As we learned from our elders and had encounters with dangerous animals, our brains would say, “Got it. When we hear that rustling in the bushes, it’s time to go the other way.”
Our changing brains helped us survive by teaching us what to fear.
Put simply, our brains re-wire themselves to make us better and better at finding what is good and avoiding what is bad. This is our superpower. However, in the modern world it’s also become our kryptonite.
Here’s why. Because we now live in an overabundance of good stuff. It’s not just one fruit in the jungle. It’s an endless supply of sugar and fat and comfort and stimulation and entertainment.
With all those good things at hand, our brains do what our brains do. They re-wire themselves to get us more, more, more… This is why it’s so easy to gain weight and so hard to lose it. This is why it’s so easy to watch TikTok for an hour but so hard to read a book for 10 minutes.
Because our brains have rewired themselves to get good stuff as easily as possible, even if the “good stuff” isn’t actually good in an endless supply.
The same thing is true for avoiding dangerous things. A changing brain is great for avoiding panther attacks. But what happens when your mind is filled with a constant stream of terrifying stories? Stories of violence, robberies, child abductions, injustice, hatred, and war…
Our brains say, “Got it. There are threats everywhere. We must be ready for fight or flight at all times.” Our brains have re-wired themselves to keep us in a state of constant anxiety.
Endless consumption. Non-stop fear. Our brains are just trying to keep us alive. But in reality, they’re doing anything but. Our superpower of a changing brain has become our kryptonite.
Take just a moment to think about how this has happened in your own brain. What habits are you stuck in? What anxieties are rooted deeply in your subconscious? How have you re-wired your brain in ways that pull you away from life and abundance?
We all do it to some degree, and frankly, it can feel like a pretty bleak situation. But I’ve got some really good news. There is a way to take back control of how our brains are shaped.
There is a practice you can do which can change how your neurological wiring makes sense of your world. It’s a practice which can lead you back to peace.
It’s a practice our spiritual ancestors were well aware of. Now, they didn’t know much at all about neuroplasticity, but they understood the mind-altering power of gratitude.
SERIES SETUP
Today we launch a new sermon series that’s all about being grateful. Not as some kind of vague exercise at Thanksgiving. (“Let’s all go around the table and say one thing we’re thankful for.”).
No. We’re talking about gratitude as a life-altering practice that transforms the very way we experience our world. That re-wires our brain.
To do this, we are going to spend four weeks exploring Psalm 107. A poem in our Bibles which invites us to practice deep gratitude, no matter what our life circumstances might be.
Let me pray for us, and then we’ll get into it.
GIVE THANKS
Let’s start with just a bit of context. If you’re not familiar, the book of Psalms is a collection of hymns, poems, and songs which were cherished by the people of Israel, including Jesus and the apostles, and used regularly in their worship.
Psalms is divided up into five major “books” or collections of psalms focused on different themes, and Psalm 107 is the very first psalm of book 5, which is all about joy, restoration, praise, and, you guessed it, gratitude.
Scholars believe this Psalm was used at certain Israelite festivals as a way to practice gratitude in community (which is going to be a really important fact here in a moment). Ok, let’s read the first few lines of the psalm and then we’ll talk about it.
Psalm 107:1-3
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
Has the LORD redeemed you? Then speak out!
Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies.
For he has gathered the exiles from many lands,
from east and west,
from north and south.
Alright. “Give thanks to the Lord…” Why? Because “he has gathered the exiles.” What’s that all about? Well, one of the key traumas of Israelite history was that of Exile - expulsion from one’s native land.
Basically, God kicked his people out of the Promised Land because of their relentless disobedience. God expected justice, his people spread injustice. God wanted peace, his people wanted violence. And so on. It finally reached a breaking point.
First came The Assyrian Exile (732 B.C.), where the northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed and its people were scattered all around the ancient world.
Then came The Babylonian Exile (586 B.C.), where the southern kingdom of Israel was destroyed, and most of its nobles were taken as prisoners to Babylon for a generation.
Eventually both exiles technically ended, and some Israelites came back home to Israel, which was a cause for celebration. However, it was very clear to the people that the true exile had not fully ended. The people of God were still scattered and a greater work of salvation and homecoming was still to come.
So this psalm, in celebrating the return of the exiles in verse 3, is expressing Gratitude for both the now and the not yet.
Some exiles have come home, but the true end of exile is still in the future. Nevertheless, give thanks. Practice gratitude.
GRATITUDE
But that raises an interesting question. How can you be grateful for something that hasn’t happened yet?
Well, this is when we come back to the idea of neuroplasticity - of the changeable nature of our brains.
Our spiritual ancestors understood that gratitude is not just a transaction - you do something nice for me and I say thank you. No. They saw gratitude as a posture. A lifestyle. A way of being that shapes the way we think whether we’re in good times or bad times.
For example, when the people of Israel gathered for their festivals and sang this psalm together, some of them were at the top of the world - great harvest, healthy family, smokin’ hot bod, whatever.
At the same time, others dragged themselves there from the pit of despair. From grief, poverty, illness, you name it… And I bet gratitude was the last thing they were feeling.
Some were doing great. Some were doing terribly. And yet everyone was invited to give thanks to the Lord. Verse 2. “Speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you…”
Can you imagine being expected, even commanded to be grateful when your life is in the gutter?
Why be grateful when it seems like there’s nothing to be grateful for? Why give thanks when God hasn’t come through for you yet. Or as a nation when the exile hasn’t really ended yet?
Because Gratitude changes the way we think.
Whether we feel grateful or not. Gratitude re-wires our brain. The Israelites understood this at an intuitive level. But here’s what’s cool: modern science backs this up.
Neuroscientists and sociologists have done countless studies which reveal that regularly practicing gratitude reduces stress, anxiety, and depression. I’m going to say that again.
Gratitude reduces stress, anxiety, and depression! Does that sound intriguing to anyone? Does anyone want a little less anxiety in your life these days?
But it’s not just that. Gratitude also improves emotional resilience, focus, and sleep. It calms down our fight or flight reflex. Oh, and this one is crazy - somehow gratitude even improves your immune system. This is science.
Now our spiritual ancestors didn’t have modern science to tell them all this, but they understand that giving thanks to God in community would help them all think differently about their broken lives.
Gratitude changes the way we think.
Even, and perhaps especially, when we are still waiting for God to deliver us. When it feels like the exile is far from over, our people are still scattered, and our world is still broken.
WANDERERS
Let me show you what I mean. Let’s keep working through Psalm 107.
After this initial call to gratitude, the poem begins telling the stories of four groups of people who were rescued by God.
-Wanderers in the wilderness
-Prisoners
-The sick
-Sailors caught in an ocean storm
Now, in a literary and historical sense, you can see how each of these stories is a metaphor for the exile. The people of God cut off and struggling far from home.
But what is so cool about biblical poetry is that these stories work on multiple levels. They are also reflective of our lives. At times we are the wanderers and the prisoners and so on…
And so, in a way, each of these four stories gives us a framework or a platform from which to tell our own stories of God’s deliverance. They help us practice gratitude, even when that deliverance is still yet to come.
Let’s read the first story.
Psalm 107:4-9
Some wandered in the wilderness,
lost and homeless.
Hungry and thirsty,
they nearly died.
“LORD, help!” they cried in their trouble,
and he rescued them from their distress.
He led them straight to safety,
to a city where they could live.
Let them praise the LORD for his great love
and for the wonderful things he has done for them.
For he satisfies the thirsty
and fills the hungry with good things.
Ok. The first story seems relatively straightforward. Sometimes, as Dani preached about a couple of weeks ago, we find ourselves in the wilderness of life. It’s just a part of living in a broken world.
Now, wilderness can take many different forms. Sure, it can be hunger and thirst, like in verse 5, but wilderness can also look like Grief. Loneliness. Unemployment. Broken relationships. Anxiety. Addiction. Depression…
It’s not a stretch to say that every single one of us is either in the wilderness now or has been in the wilderness at some point in our lives.
So what then is this first story telling us? Be grateful! Give thanks to God because, look! These wanderers called out to him and he fixed it, right? If you’re one of those struggling Israelites at the festival, then just put on a happy face, right?
Well, I don’t think that’s what the psalm is actually saying. I think it’s a bit more nuanced than that. Let’s take a closer look.
Verse 8 says, “Let them praise the Lord for his great love…” In Hebrew, this is the word khesed - unfailing, loyal, covenantal love
It’s the kind of love that endures no matter what, and it’s one of the chief descriptors of God’s character throughout the Old Testament.
In fact the word shows up six times in this psalm alone. It opens with this idea. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His khesed endures forever.”
The point, I think, is that rescuing us from the wilderness isn’t just something God does every now and then, when he feels like it, or when we pray exactly the right things.
No. Look at verse 9. “He satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.” In other words, it’s what he does. It’s who he is. His khesed endures forever.
And of course, we see that unfailing love embodied in Jesus Christ, who gave his own life away in his love for us.
“Give thanks to the Lord.” Why? “For he is good.” Khesed is his identity. He is the kind of God who saves.
Ok, but that still doesn’t answer our question. How are we supposed to be grateful in the not yet? When we’re still in the wilderness and God hasn’t saved us yet? Wouldn’t it make more sense to wait to be grateful until we’re out the other side?
Well, here’s where it’s helpful to zoom in and look at some of the other clues the psalm is giving us. For example, verse 6. “‘LORD, help!’ they cried in their trouble, and he rescued them from their distress.”
It’s easy to skim right by this, but think about what this line implies. First, it implies that God hears his children when we cry out to him. He’s paying attention. Second, it implies that he rescues us from our distress because he cares about our distress.
He listens to you and he cares about you. Do you believe that? That God cares about the wilderness you are going through? That he sees your struggles and anxieties and actually cares?
Because he does. It’s who he is. His khesed endures forever.
And look at verse 7. “He led them straight to safety. Literally, “he led them by a straight way.”
In other words, this little story seems simplistic. They called. He rescued them. But look closer and you realize that God didn’t snap his fingers and teleport them out of the wilderness. They still had to travel through it.
But he guided them every step of the way and he made their path straight. He removed the obstacles in their way and he never left their side.
My point is this: Psalm 107 is not calling you to be grateful because God is just going to magically fix all your problems.
It’s calling you to be grateful because God cares about what you are going through. He hears you when you call because he’s paying attention. He is with you in the wilderness and he will guide you on a straight path through it if you let him.
That is how you practice gratitude in the not yet. It’s not gratitude about your circumstances; It’s gratitude about God’s identity. It’s thanking God for who he is and letting that gratitude shape your trust in his unfailing love for you.
We can practice gratitude in the wilderness – in the “not yet” – because God’s unfailing love endures forever. Because he’s the God who became one of us as Jesus Christ and walked through the wilderness with us. He made our path straight through the cross. It’s who he is.
“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good.” When that is your posture, day after day, it re-shapes your mind. It re-wires your brain. Because
Gratitude changes the way we think.
Yes, it reduces our anxiety and helps us sleep better and builds our emotional resilience. But more than all of that, gratitude in the not yet helps us learn how to trust that our God of unfailing love will one day bring us home.
And oh my goodness. When he does - when you do finally emerge from the wasteland - you are going to have such a beautiful story to tell!
COMMUNITY
Next week we’re going to look at the next two stories in Psalm 107, and things are going to get a little more… interesting. Why? Because in those two stories, the troubles we find ourselves in are because of our own bad decisions.
How will God respond when it’s our own sin that caused the pain we feel? You’ll have to come back next Sunday to find out… (or you could just read the rest of Psalm 107 and find out for yourself!)
I want to close today by taking a step back and remembering that Psalm 107 was meant to be a communal hymn of thanksgiving. Everyone coming together, regardless of life circumstances, to practice gratitude.
Don’t get me wrong. There is still tremendous value in practicing gratitude on your own. Through art, music, meditation, gratitude journals, etc. All of that stuff re-wires your brain.
But there is something uniquely powerful about practicing gratitude with others. Remember, that’s what the psalm was designed for.
It’s powerful to be grateful together. And here’s why. Because some of you have come through the wilderness and can speak of God’s faithfulness in your past.
If that’s you, those of us who are in the middle of the wilderness need your stories of God’s deliverance to remind us of His character. Your gratitude for God’s goodness in your hardship might just be the life raft that someone else needs to cling to in theirs.
And let’s flip things around. Some of you are in the wilderness right now. If you’re in the wilderness and you’re trusting in God? Your gratitude for his character can be a model that builds the faith of everyone else.
We need one another’s stories of gratitude (both looking back and looking forward) to build our trust as a family. To re-wire our brains and change the way we see the world.
Because a community built on gratitude for God’s unfailing love can embody that love in a world that so desperately needs it.