Thanksgiving…and God’s Will
As I write this, it's the day before Thanksgiving. So I have not yet overindulged in the bounty of the harvest as an expression of my grateful heart. But I am guessing most who are reading this did just that on Thursday.
Somewhere along the line, perhaps when someone prayed over the food before the big feast, you were also reminded that we have much to be thankful for, and then instructed that we should always remember to give thanks, no matter what season of the year. So in that light, every day is Thanksgiving, and that includes today.
Someone once remarked that the worst of all possible moments for an atheist is to feel truly thankful and have no one there to thank. Most Americans are not actual atheists, of course, but as Calvin Miller wrote, they may be practical atheists. An actual atheist has no God to thank. A practical atheist has a God to thank, but never thinks of doing it.
But if there's any act or attitude that should be assumed for the Christian, it should be thanksgiving. In fact, there is no more specific passage about the will of God for our lives in all the Scripture than 1 Thessalonians 5:18, which states: "In everything give thanks, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Have you ever wanted to know God's will on an issue? There it is. Give thanks....in everything.
That's what it's so important to remember that Thanksgiving is not just a single day of the year, nor even a specific season. Neither is it so much about how much we have been blessed, but how much we are thankful. It's a recognition of God's gracious blessings of life itself, and His providential provision of our every need, just as He has promised. It's a general attitude of gratitude and about doing God's will as a way of life.
In fact, the art of giving thanks is not a matter of how much or how little God gives us. America is proof that the blessings of God can wean us from remembering the necessity of God. The Bible warns and history has continually proven that when God blesses a nation with abundance, the people are not prone to love Him, but to love only His abundant provision. When He blesses us with material blessings, we don't typically become believers or thankers, but mere materialists.
The truth is, giving thanks is usually learned not in abundance, but in times of need, when we have more appreciation for the simple things of life. Maybe in that light, this year's inflation and reeling inflation may be a blessing in disguise, if in our need it causes us to appreciate what we have. With that in mind, may I leave you this week with the words of the prophet Habakkuk, who offers some much-needed counsel on Thanksgiving for all of us:
"Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pens and no cattle in the stalls...yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior." (Hab. 3:17-18)
Yet. What a simple, yet wonderful expression, especially when it comes to thanksgiving.
I am so very thankful for each of you, and I pray that you and your family have a blessed rest-of-the-Thanksgiving weekend. I look forward to seeing you on Sunday.
--Pastor Ken
