Thanksgiving

Well, we’ve just celebrated one of my favorite holidays of the year, Thanksgiving.  I just think that we shouldn’t relegate just one day a year to remind us of all that we have to be thankful for.  As Christians, we’re supposed to be people of gratitude and thankfulness all the time. 

As usual, I noticed several commercials and skits on TV telling us about the origin of this holiday here in the United States.  You know, when the Pilgrims and the Native Americans got together and shared their bounty in the form of a feast.  I seriously doubt that they had turkey, dressing, giblet gravy and cranberry sauce though.  Probably more like various wild game with some veggies.

The reason I mention this is because those presenting these bits of history kept referring to it as the “first Thanksgiving.”  I beg to differ with them.  I can’t say if this one is the actual “first” but back in the 12th chapter of Nehemiah we read where, after completing the building of the wall around Jerusalem, which made them safe from their enemies, they appointed a day of “gladness” and “thanksgiving” for their blessings.

If you turn your Bibles to that chapter you’ll see that it was a day “of great joy” and that everyone “rejoiced.”  It doesn’t tell us anything about the menu of that day but it does tell us that they celebrated it by offering “songs of praise and thanksgiving unto God.” 

Let’s return to “our” day of “Thanksgiving” for a few minutes and some additional thoughts regarding it.  And I mention these because it seems like our nation has been trying for at least a couple of decades to remove any reference to God from our national make up.  With that in mind, let me remind you of some things written about this holiday at it’s inception.

It was officially instituted by declaration by President George Washington in 1789. Look at some of the things found in this declaration.  That it is 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.” 

Further, that this day was to be set aside that we “all may unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country.” He then added: “and in general, for all the great and various favors which He hath been pleased to confer upon us.”

I ask you, does that sound like anything we might hear today from our government?  I can’t imagine it.

Many other authors, statesmen and famous people have also penned thoughts about this holiday, but let’s take the rest of our time and space here to look at what God’s Word says about “thanksgiving.”  Interestingly, when you research the word in either the Old Testament (Hebrew) or the New (Greek) you’ll find that it means exactly the same as it means today.  To wit: the “giving of thanks” for blessings received.

I don’t know if you’ve ever considered this, but “thanksgiving” is one of the very few things that carry over from this earth into heaven.  Read with me from Rev. 7:11-12, “And all the angels stood round about the throne and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God saying, Amen: Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be unto our God for ever and ever.  Amen.”

Earlier I mentioned that Christians are supposed to be grateful and thankful people and by that I mean, every day of the year.  Not just on one special occasion such as last Thursday.  It’s this thought that begs the question; how do we maintain this attitude year round? 

Perhaps something we find written in Psalm 95:2 can help us do this: “Let us come before Him with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto Him with psalms.”  It’s my humble opinion that we are “before Him” all the time, therefore we should be “thankful” all the time.

The apostle Paul probably gives us the best advice on how to be “thankful” at all times.  In Phil. 4:6 he tells us to be “anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”  Let’s look a little closer at what God, through the hand of Paul, is saying to us here.

He’s saying, that instead of “being anxious” or worrying about things, when we’re praying our prayers, in addition to our “requests” we should be filled with “thanksgiving” for all that we’ve been blessed with.  If we practice what Paul is telling us here, added to his words in 1Thess. 5:17 “pray without ceasing” (never stop praying), that should remind us to always have a “grateful” and a “thankful” heart.

Respectfully submitted,

Ron Covey