Give Thanks

“Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His love endures forever!”  Psalm 118:1

Come tomorrow, families around the nation will gather at a table piled high with turkey and trimmings, fill their bellies to the brim, push back proclaiming, “I can’t eat another bite,” and yet somehow find a way (not too long later) to consume just one more piece of homemade pie!   We call it Thanksgiving.

But Thanksgiving is much more than a big feast during a fall month. Thanksgiving is pausing our normal activities to express special gratitude to God for who He is and what He does.  Giving thanks is first mentioned in scripture in the Law, where God gave guidelines for the offerings of gratitude He desired His people to bring.  The “thank offering” was not commanded, for required gratitude is not real gratitude.  Instead, the offering was voluntary—the joyful response of a willing heart wanting to express thanks to the Giver of all good things. 

Gratitude has been a hallmark of God’s people through the ages.  When Solomon’s temple was filled with God’s presence, the people gave thanks.  When an enemy came to attack Judah, Jehosaphat’s army marched to meet them giving thanks.  Nehemiah’s choirs gave thanks after the people finished rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall, and Daniel gave thanks when God revealed to him the dream of the king.  Years later, knowing he was disobeying man’s decree, Daniel continued praying to the one true God, giving thanks three times a day, as he had always done. The Samaritan leper returned to say thank you to Jesus after he and nine buddies had been healed, and a young lad watched in amazement as Jesus lifted his little lunch to heaven, gave thanks, and fed thousands with his midday snack.

These examples give us many reasons to be thankful.  God is with us. God is for us. He protects us. He provides for us. He helps us. He heals us. He knows us. He loves us. And He takes the little we have and makes it much. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.  His love endures forever!”(Ps 118:1)

We mark our thanksgiving with a meal because our Pilgrim forefathers did the same.  102 Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth on the Mayflower, but forty-seven died during the brutal first winter, leaving only three families intact.  As spring arrived, so did Squanto, a divinely-equipped Patuxet Indian who taught the Pilgrims how to survive in their new land.  After an abundant harvest, the people prepared a feast, invited the local Indian chief (who brought ninety extra guests), and celebrated God’s goodness for three full days.  The next fall they invited him back for another party, but, besides the bounty of the harvest, each plate held five kernels of corn, a reminder of their winter rations, yet not one had died of starvation.

It is only appropriate we eat at Thanksgiving, for it was at Passover, the annual Jewish meal of remembrance and gratitude, when Jesus stood, gave thanks, broke bread, and said, “This is my body which is broken for you”(Lk 22:19).  As you give thanks tomorrow, start there.  The reality of who God is shows up best in the sacrifice of Himself.  Because of the blood-stained cross and the empty tomb, we can give thanks in all circumstances for nothing can separate us from His love and from His life.  With gratitude, we can join the chorus started by the apostle, John, “From the fullness of His grace, we have all received one blessing after another”(Jn 1:16).

This year, more than ever and more fully than ever, give thanks.