Sabbath Thought - Thanksgiving

By the early 1500's, the Christian world that was dominated by the Catholic Church was beginning to show cracks.  For more than one hundred years' scholars and theologians had been questioning the theocracy of the Catholic Church which culminated in the Protestant Reformation.  The common idea of all of the Reformation, was that the Catholic Church had strayed in doctrinal application and had even become corrupt.

The Pilgrims were one such group of Christian believers that came into existence during the Reformation and who yearned to be free of persecution.  There is a longer story about how the Pilgrims finally came to the New World, but the part of the story that doesn't seem to get much review is how terribly hard it was for the Pilgrims once they got here.  The first winter was devastating to the Pilgrims. March brought warmer weather and the health of the Pilgrims improved, but 50 of the original 110 had died during the long winter.  Without the assistance of their Indian friend Squanto, who helped them get native crops planted, shelter built and so forth, they might have all perished.  By the end of the following fall they had a bountiful harvest and felt blessed simply to be alive and to have food to last through the winter.  They set aside 3 days to thank God for their harvest and deliverance and invited their Indian friends to share in their harvest.

We - even more so than those Pilgrim's - should be so thankful to God for all that we know and have because of His mercy.  We have a hymn we sing along this line - hymn 168, "Thank You, Lord".  There is no doubt this country, especially, has truly been blessed.  Do we consider how precious our calling is - now in this life?  Even if we are very generous, each person with God's Holy Spirit now in this life represents about 250,000 who do not have God's Holy Spirit.  We should be very thankful to be part of the first-fruits.  Do we show our thankfulness to God for the calling He has given to us, by truly seeking His Kingdom?  Is God at the front of our thoughts daily, or just when we think about coming to Church?

Are we thankful for being part of God's plan of salvation?  The vision, faith and endurance we have does not come from us.  God helps us with those traits so that we will trust Him more and more.  Are we thankful that there even is a plan of salvation?  God didn't need to have us be a part of His family, but He wanted to share His love and life.  Do we appreciate God's mercy and the grace He gives to us?  Are we thankful for our covered sins?  Christ died for mankind even though most of mankind rebels to God's instruction.  Are we thankful that we can go before God whenever necessary to ask for forgiveness for our sin?

Are we grateful that in our walk before God we have others of like-mind to be there with us - and for us?  How successful would we be if we could never fellowship before God with brethren?  As much as we appreciate our fellowship with brethren, God is never not there for us - teaching, leading, strengthening, and caring for us.  We should not forget that Thanksgiving is a feast of giving thanks, not only for receiving God's blessings today, but also for the spiritual blessings starting now and lasting into eternity.  Read Psalm 103 this coming week.

The holiday of a national Thanksgiving Day came about through the effort of Sarah Josepha Hale, and finally President Lincoln.  The Battle of Gettysburg was the bloodiest of all of the battles during the Civil War.  Estimates run from 46,000-51,000 casualties from both sides in this three-day battle.  President Lincoln viewed the battle scene after the fact, and was moved by the large numbers of dead.  As a result, he issued a proclamation on October 3, 1863 setting aside the last Thursday of November as a national Thanksgiving Day.

We live in a land of such great blessings, and it is truly sad that we - as a nation - have drifted so far from God.  But you and I have been blessed even more than our fellow countrymen - you and I have been called by God to be a part of His family now.  We must never forget to thank God for what He is doing for us and through us (Ephesians 5:20).  We must never forget to say to our Father - Thank You Lord.

I wish you a Sabbath filled with thanksgiving,

Dan Dowd