Thanksgiving 2017
SELECTED PSALMS
NAS Psalm 107:1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
THANKSGIVING 2017… A SPECIAL TIME FOR THE GIVING OF THANKS… There is only one Person to whom we may truly give thanks, and that is God. To whom do unbelievers thank? A true understanding of Thanksgiving will lead the thinking person to God. God is the source of all good things and ultimately it is to Him and to Him only that we give thanks…
NAS James 1:17 Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow.
CHRISTIANS LIVING IN AMERICA SHOULD BE ESPECIALLY THANKFUL. Along those lines, I thought you might enjoy hearing Abraham Lincoln’s Thanksgiving Day Proclamation of 1863: “…No human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things (God’s providential care of America). They are the gracious gifts of the most high God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.” (MERCY – withholding from us what punishment or condemnation we deserve)
CHRISTIAN THANKSGIVING: “Thanksgiving – It is gratitude for all the benefits of divine Providence, especially for the general and personal gifts of redemption.” – Unger’s Bible Dictionary
A CHRISTIAN SHOULD NEVER BE AT A LOSS to find things for which to be thankful. The Christian should lives in an “Attitude of Gratitude.” That is the message of the New Testament that is echoed directly and indirectly throughout its pages. Just one example…
KJV 1 Thessalonians 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
EVERYTHING WE DO SHOULD BE DONE IN A SPIRIT OF THANKSGIVING, recognizing
our blessings in Christ. We should always have an “attitude of gratitude” – amen?
NET Colossians 2:6-7 Therefore, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him and firm in your faith just as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.
IF WE ARE NOT LIVING LIKE THAT, WHY NOT? Colossians 2:6-7 and 1 Thessalonians 5:18 are commands. That means thanksgiving is a choice for us: we choose to be obedient to God and be thankful, or we do not. Thanksgiving, like love and forgiveness is not an emotion; it is a choice. These commands from Scripture have nothing to do with our circumstances. The Bible nowhere releases us from our Christian responsibility to be obedient if things happen not to be going our way.
JUST THE FACT WE ARE ALIVE and have been granted another day of life should make us thankful continuously throughout the day.
THANKSGIVING IS A MINDSET. The mind is the battlefield. We have to train our minds to recognize the positive and not allow ourselves to focus on the negative.
NAS Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, let your mind dwell on these things.
THANKSGIVING IS A CHOICE AND THANKSGIVING IS A MINDSET.
IT HAS BEEN MY OBSERVATION THAT, SADLY, MANY CHRISTIANS ARE NOT THANKFUL. Many are often times whiners and complainers. Too many Christians only seem to want to talk about the negative. God wants us to be joyous lights in this dark world, thanking Him continuously for the blessings He mercifully and graciously gives us. I know you know this. In great part this blog is a reminder to us, not necessarily a lesson for us…
ESV 2 Peter 1:12 Therefore I intend always to remind you of these qualities, though you know them and are established in the truth that you have.
PSALM 69:30 SHOULD BE AN ACCURATE REFLECTION OF ALL OF US…
NAS Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with song, And shall magnify Him with thanksgiving.
BRIEFLY, SOME FACTS ABOUT THE MAIN O.T. WORD FOR “THANKSGIVING… (ya-dah), basically means “confession,” either of sin or of God’s character and works. The term was employed uniquely in reference to the sacrificial system of Israel. One could bring a “thank-offering” (or “praise-offering”) in which he would make declarations of praise to God and/or confession of sin to God as he offered his sacrifice…
KJV Leviticus 7:11-12 And this is the law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, which he shall offer unto the LORD. If he offer it for a thanksgiving, then he shall offer with the sacrifice of thanksgiving unleavened cakes mingled with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil, and cakes mingled with oil, of fine flour, fried.
I WONDER HOW MANY CHRISTIANS THINK OF THEIR THANKSGIVING AS AN OFFERING?
SUCH AN OFFERING AND CONFESSION GLORIFIED GOD. It showed His righteousness in contrast to the person’s sin (Psalm 50:23), and was a means by which one ordered his way aright.
KJV Psalm 50:23 Whoso offereth praise toe-dah – thanksgiving) glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.
O.T. THANKSGIVING WAS JOYFUL! When the sacrifice was accompanied with praise (confession) of God, it was especially a time of joy…
KJV Psalm 95:1-2 O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come before his presence with thanksgiving, and make a joyful noise unto him with psalms.
KJG Jeremiah 33:11 The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say,, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the LORD.
GOD WAS MAGNIFIED BY SUCH PRAISE OF THANKSGIVING; AGAIN PSALM 69:30…
KJV Psalm 69:30 I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving.
PSALM 100 IS A TYPICAL PSALM OF PRAISE for this type of joyous occasion…
KJV Psalm 100:1 <A Psalm of praise.> Make a joyful noise unto the LORD, all ye lands. Serve the LORD with gladness: come before his presence with singing. Know ye that the LORD he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
ISN’T THAT A MAGNIFICENT PSALM? O.T. thanksgiving was joyful.
OUR FOCUS IN THIS PARTICULAR BLOG IS OLD TESTAMENT, BUT one major thanksgiving verse from the New Testament seems so appropriate because of its musical connection to all these O.T. verses…
ESV Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.
THE GREEK WORD FOR “THANKSGIVING” IS ευχαριστια (you-car-is-tee-a). We get our English word “eucharist” from the Greek word. “Eucharist” means thanksgiving. Studying this beautifully-sounding word yields some fascinating insights on the N.T. concept of thanksgiving. One paradoxical example is something you might be surprised to know:
GIVING TO OTHERS PRODUCES THANKSGIVING IN US!
THANKSGIVING, AS WE HAVE SEEN, IS COMMENDED OF BELIEVERS: “Give thanks!” Yet the Bible says that thanksgiving actually comes from God: thanksgiving is the result of grace. That’s interesting, don’t you think? The thanksgiving we give to God comes first from God.
Fascinating…
ANOTHER FASCINATING FACT IS THAT THANKSGIVING GOES ON IN HEAVEN. In other words, thanksgiving will go on forever. I think that is a great insight. Maybe you never thought about thanksgiving this way…
NAS Revelation 7:11-12 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying, “Amen, blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen.”
WE WILL ONE DAY BE IN SUCH AN INCOMPARABLE COMPANY. We will never stop thanking God.
THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING TO THANK GOD FOR in every circumstance, in every situation. You say, “How can I thank God for my cancer?” No, you may not be able to thank God for your cancer, but you can thank God that He will be with you through the treatments. “But,” you say, “how can I thank God for the loss of my husband or my child?” First of all, if that person was a believer, you can thank God for the fact he or she is in heaven with Jesus and not in hell awaiting judgment. You can thank God for your marriage, for the years – many years in many cases – that you had with your spouse and the wonderful memories that person has left you with. If we just think about things for a moment or two without being carried always with emotion, there is always something to thank God for.
THANK YOU, LORD, for another day to praise Your name. Thank You for the breath I take, for the job I have to go to (or the time off to spend special moments with You). Thank You, Lord, for the invaluable relationship I have with You, for the fact I can talk to You anytime of the day or night, expressing my innermost thoughts, my anxieties, my fears without expectation of indifference or ridicule. Thank You, Lord for my hands and feet, and fingers and toes, for my eyes and ears. Thank You for the sunshine, the gray skies, the clouds, the rain, the warmth, the cold, the wind, the silence of solitude, the noise of other people. Thank You, Lord, for reading, for music, for television, for my i- Phone, my computer, my clothes, for the money I have, for my freedom, for my obligations, my opportunities, for my beginnings and endings, my accomplishments and my disappointments, my thoughts and my dreams. Thank You, Lord , for you constant and abounding blessings. Thank You, Lord, for loving me, for forgiving me, for being patient with me; for Your kindness, Your mercy, Your goodness. And thank You, Lord, for Thanksgiving 2017, a special time to acknowledge Your underserved goodness and grace, not only privately but publicly. Thank You, Lord… thank You, Lord… thank You, Lord…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
