The best time to thank God is now, whatever the circumstances or problems. “Now thank we all our God . . .” This old German hymn was penned by Pastor Martin Rinkhart during the Thirty Years’ War. These were days of unimaginable suffering. At times Rinkhart was the town’s only pastor, and he conducted about 4,500 funerals of those who died of war and plague. Sometimes he buried forty or fifty people a day. Rinkhart was born on April 23, 1586, in Saxony, and died just before Christmas in 1649. The German title of this hymn is “Nun danket alle Gott,” and the first stanza is one of pure thanksgiving. The second stanza is a prayer, and the third is a doxology.
Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in whom His world rejoices;
Who, from our mother’s arms, has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessèd peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills in this world and the next.
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given;
The Son, and Him who reigns with them in highest heaven;
The one eternal God, whom earth and heaven adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.

In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Morgan, R. J. (2013). Devotions for lent (ebook shorts): meditations based on best-loved hymns. Grand Rapids, MI: Revell.