Thankful

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.”

(Psalms 100:4)

     Its that time of year again, here in the US, where we take a day to spend time with family and friends and express our gratitude for what we have. Yeah I know I'm kidding. This is the time of year when we should be taking the time to show our gratitude but really we mostly shove a few mouth-fulls of turkey and stuffing down our impatient gullets and then run out to the store to express our overwhelming feelings of materialism and greed. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside doesn't it? Honestly, we didn't always have this holiday and its not a biblical command; so why do so many of us get so irritated at how we treat Thanksgiving these days?

     We all know the story of the pilgrims and the Indians (Native Americans for you PC folks) and how they all got together and had a giant feast. The tale is mostly true and stands as the historical basis for the day we celebrate (or don't) to this day. The first actual proclamation of the holiday was given by President George Washington on October 3^rd 1789 declaring November 26 as “A day of public thanksgiving and prayer. Later the day was formalized by President Abraham Lincoln as the fourth Thursday of November in 1863. President Franklin D. Roosevelt tried changing the day to suit the Christmas shopping season but the general public didn't care for that at all and it was changed back. In President Washington's words:

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me "to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted' for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3rd day of October, A.D. 1789.”

(signed) G. Washington

     Wow. Let's all just take a moment to think about how this was said by the President while he was in office! This day was from its infancy, designed that we may show our gratitude to God for His many blessings. Not only that but to repent of our misdeeds and pledge ourselves to future righteousness. This goes way beyond simply being content with what we have or taking the time to ruminate on how blessed we are; this about humility and submission and gratitude to God. What we see in our modern days is less rampant ungratefulness and more the continued rejection of God in our lives and a refusal to admit that He is the one responsible for every great and good thing.

“...although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.”

(Romans 1:21)

     What are you thankful for? How has God blessed you? I don't have much, I wouldn't say that I'm rich or “well off.” I don't have much but I have far, far more than I deserve. We have food on our tables, a roof over our heads, family and friends, jobs to make money, money to pay for what we need, cars to get us where we need to go, a church family to strengthen and support us, clothes on our backs, toys and games and entertainments, the beauty of the world, the wonder of worship, the very Word of God for us to read, we have His grace and His forgiveness, we have God Himself! We have everything we could possibly need and so much more besides! What right to do we have to want more? What a crime it is that we can't even take one single day out of a whole year of them to be thankful?

“Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, And for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness.”

(Psalms 107:8-9)

     I have to work on Thanksgiving. I won't be able to spend my time with my family around a table. I won't see my niece get jellied cranberry sauce all over her face or my parents telling old embarrassing stories from the past. I'll be a few blocks away -just a few blocks- dealing with hundreds of people pushing past each other to get a DVD player that's ten dollars cheaper than it was yesterday. Do me a favor wont you? Take a few minutes and thank God for me, for your quiet table and your lovely meal. We'll be fine, those of us who have to work, there will be other Thanksgivings and other holidays. I'm just sad that as a people so blessed and bountiful, we can't even let one day of gratitude remain. We can't even allow one day in the year when we thank God for all we have.

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.”

(1 Chronicles 16:34)

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”

(2 Corinthians 9:15)