2 Samuel 7:18–22
Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke
“An Attitude of Thankfulness”
Thanksgiving Eve
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
When you think about Thanksgiving, do you think of King David? I don’t know that before preparing for tonight’s service I would have. It does not seem like a stretch to think of Zacchaeus in connection with Thanksgiving. When he learned about Jesus personally, he overflowed with thankful words and actions, immediately setting out to repay people he had wronged as a tax collector. When I think of Thanksgiving, I think of another man in Scripture, a man long associated with Thanksgiving worship. That’s the one leper out of the ten whom Jesus healed. Only that one, only a Samaritan of all people, came back to Jesus when he saw he was healed in order to thank him. All the others just went on their way.
David, on the other hand, I think of for other reasons. I think of his courage in facing Goliath as a mere boy with just a sling and some stones. I think of his leadership in directing the Israelite army in victories over many enemies. I think of his friendship toward Jonathan, the son of King Saul and his patience and restraint in waiting for the Lord to deal with Saul even after he had promised David the throne after Saul. And, I can’t help but also think about his big, messy, public sin with Bathsheba.
Tonight we are considering a few words from King David, words that may change that perception. They don’t include the word Thanksgiving. David doesn’t directly say, “Thank you.” But David demonstrates in just a few sentences what an attitude of thankfulness sounds like. Let’s listen to his words together and consider a few lessons that we can take from his example for our own Thanksgiving. This is 2 Samuel 7:18–22 (EHV)
18Then King David went and sat before the Lord and said:
Who am I, Lord God? And what is my house that you have brought me to this point? 19Yet this was a small thing in your eyes, Lord God. You have also spoken about the house of your servant for a long time into the future. Is this the law for the man, Lord God?
20What more can David say to you? You know your servant, Lord God. 21Because of your word and according to the plan of your heart, you have carried out this great thing in order to make your servant aware of it. 22Therefore, you are great, Lord God, because there is none like you. There is no God except you, in keeping with everything we have heard with our ears.
This is God’s Word.
David’s starting point for expressing thanks is a recognition that he has not earned anything. Who am I, Lord God? is an expression of humility. He even goes on: And what is my house that you have brought me to this point? David had not earned God’s favor, but God had brought him to the point of being king over his chosen people. David did not start by listing his accomplishments and achievements. He didn’t suggest that he had earned or deserved anything. How thankful does someone feel to get from their employer the wages they have earned by working for a week or two? That was part of the agreement. But thankfulness toward God comes from a recognition that there is no agreement. There is no bargaining. There is no achieving. Every blessing that we enjoy comes to us out of God’s grace and love and mercy.
That can’t be stated enough. Our sinful natures like to take credit and claim success. Even if we don’t say it, it is easy for these ideas to creep into our thinking, even about Thanksgiving. Of course I am thankful, and I pay lip-service to counting the blessings that God gives, but deep down, I am convinced that I deserve some things more than other people do. Some part of me always want to find what is to my credit and what sets me apart from other people. That’s not thankfulness. Thankfulness doesn’t look at itself. It doesn’t speak in terms of earning or deserving or credit. It doesn’t say, “Let me tell you who I am.” Thankfulness looks outward at the blessings that come. An attitude of thankfulness is an attitude of humility. It asks, “Who am I?” And it confesses, “I am someone who could never earn or deserve what has come my way.”
And just think for a moment about what has come your way. A house to go home to tonight. Food to nourish you and more than that, food you enjoy. Productive work to do. People to share experiences with. Leisure time and restful activities. Our lists could go on and on. And that is true even if and even when our lives also
include some less positive realities: a diagnosis, the loss of a loved one, concerns about the future, relationship struggles. These are real challenges. They are difficult.
And don’t think for a moment that David didn’t face challenges, too. He was the king with all of the responsibilities and stresses and worries of that position. He didn’t discount suffering, but he knew that the blessings of God were overwhelming in comparison. He simply asked, “Who am I?”
If that’s how we see ourselves with an attitude of thankfulness, it tells us how we ought to look at God, too. Listen again to some of the praises that come from David’s lips: Because of your word and according to the plan of your heart, you have carried out this great thing…Therefore, you are great, Lord God, because there is none like you. There is no God except you.
This is the counterpart to our humility. We get to proclaim the greatness of God. We get to praise him for his wonderful works. We get to thank him for everything he has done for us, all of the blessings that he has given to us. If we don’t deserve them, and if we can’t deserve them, if we have not earned anything, what does that say about God who gives them to us? It says there is no one like him. There is no one as great as him. There is no one as powerful. There is no one who has us in his heart like he does. There is no one else to whom we need to turn or on whom we need to depend.
And the specific context of David’s words drive home this aspect of what it means to have an attitude of thankfulness: he gives thanks for the greatest blessing of all. Here’s what I mean. David as king looked around and realized that he had been living in luxury. He had a beautiful palace. Meanwhile, the Ark of the Covenant, the special, ornate box that represented and demonstrated God’s presence among the people, was kept in a tent. David had an idea. He wanted to honor God by building a temple, building a proper house for the ark. At first, the Prophet Nathan though this sounded like a great idea. It was a concept that would honor and glorify God. But God had different plans.
God told David that he was not going to be the one to build a temple. His son would build the temple. And God told David that instead of David building a house for God, God would build a house for David. And as God shared this message with David through his prophet, the meaning of this promise became clear. God would keep descendants of David on the throne of Israel, and at the proper time, God would send from David’s line the true prophet and true King of Israel. This was a repetition of the promise of a Savior. This was the promise of salvation.
And this was the message that immediately preceded the verses we are considering from 2 Samuel 7. This is what David heard, and then he went and sat before the Lord and said these things. The fact that these words were spoken in response to the greatest blessing of all reinforce what we have already said about an attitude of thankfulness.
While we are right to give thanks for every blessing that comes from God’s hand, we too often get caught up in the blessings that matter less. We too often focus on the blessings that are more temporary and less certain, the ones that can fade away as diseases and death come. But this blessing is different. This is salvation. It is eternal. We are talking about a joy that never ends. That means, in the words of our other readings this evening, that we can rejoice always in the Lord. And we can follow an example like that of Zacchaeus, about whom Jesus said, “salvation has come to this house, because he too is a son of Abraham” (Luke 19:1-10).
That is indeed a fine example of thanksgiving, one after which we might model our own thanksgiving. But let us also take to heart the example of David. His sins, even those painful and public ones were forgiven. His accomplishments were all gifts from God. He had so much as far as position and power and prestige. And his attitude of thankfulness shined through as he spoke of his own unworthiness, God’s amazing love, and the greatest blessing of all. May God bless your Thanksgiving Day, and every day, with such an attitude of thankfulness.