Thanksgiving is a form of praise to God.  It is praising Him for what He has done and who He is.  When we praise God for who He is we are adoring Him.  When we adore Him we humble ourselves and place reliance upon Him.

        The Hebrew word "towdah" is translated "sacrifice of praise", "thanksgiving", "confession", and "thanks offering".   It comes from the root word that means adoration.   Specifically it refers to adoration from a choir of worshippers.

        That's why we read in Psalms, "I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving (Heb: towdah)" (69:30).  And "Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving (towdah) and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms"(95:2).  Again, "enter into His gates with thanksgiving (towdah) and into His courts with praise; be thankful unto Him and bless His name" (100:4).

        During his reign as king David appointed singers to sing praise to God.   Nehemiah continued that practice.  We read in Nehemiah chapter 12, "And the Levites...in charge of the songs of thanksgiving..."(v. 8); "Then I had the leaders of Judah come up on top of the wall, and I appointed two great choirs, the first proceeding to the right on top of the wall around the Refuse Gate"(v.31); "For they performed the worship of their God and the service of purification, together with the singers and the gatekeepers in accordance with the command of David and of his son, Solomon.  For in the days of David and Asaph, in ancient times there were leaders of the singers, songs of praise, and hymns of thanksgiving to God." (v. 45-46). 

        Worship of God has always included beautiful and praise worthy music!   It is easy to think that music is just an incidental filler needed between messages.  But is it not.  It is a means by which we worship, praise and thank the Almighty God of the universe!

        We needn’t think that we have to thank God because He will get offended if we don't.  We offer praise to God because it is good for us and is one of the things that makes us happy and gives us a proper perspective on our own lives.

        Probably the greatest cause of unhappiness today is lack of gratitude toward God. When we don't thank Him we focus our minds on all the things we don't have rather than on all the blessings we do have.  "Give Thanks to God for He is good" and He has blessed you in so many ways.  When we give thanks we place our minds on our blessings and that creates feelings of contentment.   You have many blessings for which to be thankful.  Begin by giving thanks and that will cause you to look around in your life and find them.