THANKSGIVING

Psalms 100:4 “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name.”

What do you think of when you think of Thanksgiving? Eating, football, long weekend, shopping, history, or family? Thanksgiving is much more than any of this. True thanksgiving is not just a day for food, football, and family. It’s not just a holiday every fourth Thursday in November. For God’s people, everyday ought to be Thanksgiving Day.

Thanksgiving Day is a distinctive holiday. It doesn’t commemorate a battle or anyone’s birthday. It is simply a day set aside to express our thanks to God. Did you know that in 1789, George Washington made a public proclamation saying that, “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?” He recommended and assigned Thursday, the 26th day of November 1789 to be a day of Thanksgiving.

Of course most of know the story of the pilgrims and how they and the Indians of the area had a Thanksgiving feast in 1621 – long before Washington’s proclamation. Even earlier than 1621 – we find people offering up thanks to God. In the Old Testament we find a Song of Thanksgiving. It is Psalm 100. It is subtitled “A Psalm of Thanksgiving”. It is an invitation to join together to acknowledge the great things that God has done. Not only does Psalm 100 call us to praise the Lord with thankfulness – but it also describes to us the nature of thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is what flows out of a thankful heart. In Luke chapter seventeen there is a very interesting story. Jesus enters a village and upon entering He finds ten men who were lepers. They stood a long way off and yelled out to Jesus, "Jesus, have mercy on us!" When Jesus saw them, He said to them, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." Did you know that they had not been cleansed yet? They left before they were cured – because the Bible says, “that as they went along, they were cleansed.” Do you know what happened then? One of them – only one of them – when he saw that he was healed, turned around and went back to see Jesus. The Bible says he fell down on his face at the feet of Jesus, glorified God and thanked Jesus for what He had done. Only one out of ten thanked Jesus. Do you remember what Jesus asked him? "Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?

Thankfulness will come only from a grateful spirit. We should be challenged to consider all of God’s goodness. Upon true, deep consideration of all he has done for us, our hearts should be turned towards thanksgiving. Let us never take for granted who God is to us. Let us never forget just how much he loves us.

This Thanksgiving – with all the preparations, events and excitement – my prayer – is that God is thanked – with joy and gladness – with thankfulness and gratitude – and with a heart dependent on him.