Thanksgiving

It’s Thanksgiving time again. Wow, the calendar months roll around quickly, don’t they! Today my daughter and I made a menu plan for the dinner, including all of the traditional delicacies. A few days ago we had some guests here and I asked one of the boys what he was looking forward to most about Thanksgiving. He said eating turkey legs. I’m glad some of the younger generation still goes for the traditional.

But there’s more to Thanksgiving than food, right? It’s a time to reflect on our many blessings and be thankful. Even when things are tough? Even when I don’t feel like it? Well, what do the Scriptures say?

In the book of Psalms we read this phrase over and over: “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever” (Psalm 118:1). And our response to that challenge? Let’s determine with the psalmist: “I will praise the name of God with a song,

and will magnify Him with thanksgiving” (Psalm 69:30). Why? “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High” (Psalm 92:1).

Do you know who was the best at giving thanks? Jesus. Each time He broke bread with His friends, He gave thanks. Even at the Passover supper when He knew that His crucifixion was just around the corner, He paused to thank God. “He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me’ ” (Luke 22:19). This statement shed new light on the old traditional ritual which was familiar to all of them. It was excruciating to Jesus to think about what was coming. The disciples had no idea what He meant until later. But the point is: Jesus gave thanks.

What thanks will you raise to God? Thanks for little things? Big things? Delightful things? Hard things? Yes, hopefully all of these. “Express your joy in singing among yourselves psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, making music in your hearts for the ears of God! Thank God at all times for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 5:18-20, J. B. Phillips).

What’s your favorite thing about Thanksgiving? Thanking God?