God has abundantly blessed us all, so it's time to give Him thanks. Many among us will soon be enjoying American Thanksgiving Day with food, family and football. Some will be too busy, too distracted or perhaps too ill to give thanks. Some will be spending Thanksgiving Day in uniform, at home or abroad, helping others, providing needs, and protecting freedom. But we all can give thanks to the Lord this week.
People have been giving God thanks since the beginning of time. Cain and Abel gave thanks to God for their harvest, Abraham gave thanks for his firstborn son Isaac, and Jacob gave thanks his son Joseph was alive. David gave thanks for offerings to build the first Temple, and Paul gave thanks for offerings to stave off starvation in Jerusalem. Whether 2,000 years ago or this week, giving God thanks is stitched into the fabric of humanity.
Historians tell us the first American Thanksgiving was not the happy occasion we've been lead to think it was. Elementary students today are taught the first Thanksgiving was the Europeans giving thanks to the Indians. An issue of "Smithsonian" magazine describes a meal built on invasion, slavery and oppression. The article has Native Americans as winsome, happy folks while Europeans were unkempt, greedy invaders. The article says about the only thing Europeans brought to the first Thanksgiving was disease. The truth about the first American Thanksgiving, of course, is between the two extremes.
President Lincoln made American Thanksgiving Day official in 1864. Amid the horrors of the Civil War, this remarkable man reminded a faltering nation of its duty to give God thanks. Today, despite the fact that God has been all but eradicated from from the public square, America still observes Thanksgiving Day. We haven't yet abdicated this important holiday and I pray we never will.
How will you spend the day? Will you take time to attend a church service to give your thanks? Some churches have Wednesday Thanksgiving Eve services for those who will spend Thursday preparing food or doing other things. If this is true of your Thursday, I encourage you to take advantage of a Wednesday service. There is no valid reason not to give God thanks this Thanksgiving Day.
"Give thanks unto the Lord for He is Good - His love endures forever." (Psalm 107:1)
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