THANKSGIVING: CELEBRATING DIVINE GOODNESS

We cannot go through the month of November without thinking, “I have so much to be thankful for!” But, instead of thinking the same old thanksgiving thoughts, I want to encourage you to look at Thanksgiving in a slightly different way this year.

Noah Webster was a man who knew his own history. In his 1828 dictionary, he defines Thanksgiving as: “The act of rendering thanks or expressing gratitude for favors or mercies. 2. A public celebration of divine goodness; also a day set aside for religious services, specially to acknowledge the goodness of God, either in any remarkable deliverance from calamities or danger, or in the ordinary dispensation of his bounties.”

A celebration of divine goodness and remarkable deliverance. These were probably at the root of the feelings of gratitude in the pilgrims. I believe they were more than simply thankful for their families, friends and their feast. I believe it touched those things but also went much deeper than that. I believe they were thankful for the God of their feast. Sounds like a no-brainer, doesn’t it. Of course they were thankful for their God – aren’t we all? But just how are we thankful for our God today? I would guess that most of our thankfulness has to do with His provision and not necessarily His Person. The pilgrims knew that His provision was because of His character.

From my historical readings, the first Pilgrims knew their God! They knew Him to not only be a Provider, but a God of Mercy; their Creator; Redeemer; Life-giver; Deliverer; Rescuer. They knew Him to be all these things and were filled with Thanksgiving that He would even acknowledge mortal men!

How about us? Do we know Him in this way? At this time of year especially, we tend to give thanks for what God does for us, more than for who He is.

So, my recommendation is not to simply celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday – but celebrate the God behind the holiday and give thanks to the Lord, for He is good!

Here is a great thing to do with your family before Thanksgiving. Read Psalm 136 with your family and verse by verse write down things about Him on little slips of paper. Then, on Thanksgiving Day, pass out the slips to friends and family and read what you have all written as reasons for giving thanks. I have listed below some things to think about and write down as a reminder of Who God is and why we can be thankful for Him.

Psalm 136

1 Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

One of the main reasons we can give thanks to the Lord is because He is good. In describing the character of God, we can say, God is good. Exodus 34:6 says He is abundant in goodness. Goodness defines Who He is. Have the children write how God is good and how He has been good to them.

According to every verse in this Psalm, we can see that God is good because His mercy endures forever. Talk about His mercy. What is mercy? How does God show mercy? Write down how He has shown mercy to you personally.

Go through each remaining verses of the Psalm in the same manner writing your findings on the little slips of paper.

2 Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever. (He is the One True God. Why are we thankful for this?)

3 Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever: (He is the Lord of lords. Talk about how He is ruler over all kings and governments)

4 To Him who alone does great wonders, For His mercy endures forever; (He does great wonders. Have children name some of the great wonders in their own lives)

5, 6 To Him who by wisdom made the heavens, For His mercy endures forever; To Him who laid out the earth above the waters, For His mercy endures forever; (God is wise. God created the heavens and the earth. Talk about why it is important to know that a good, wise God created all things. Talk about the false god of evolution.)

7, 8, 9 To Him who made great lights, For His mercy endures forever; The sun to rule by day, For His mercy endures forever; The moon and stars to rule by night, For His mercy endures forever. (He cares for us and provided light in the darkness. Talk about how Jesus is the light that came down from heaven to bring light to our darkness.)

10,11 To Him who struck Egypt in their firstborn, For His mercy endures forever; And brought out Israel from among them, For His mercy endures forever; (Talk about the greatness of God in delivering His children from the wickedness of Egypt. Talk about how the children of Israel were saved from death by the blood of the lamb over their doorposts. Tell how Jesus is the lamb that was slain to deliver us from death and bring us eternal life. Don’t forget to write these things on the slips of paper.)

12 With a strong hand, and with an outstretched arm, For His mercy endures forever; (God is strong. Talk about the arm of God. Why is His strong arm important in our own life?)

13, 14, 15 To Him who divided the Red Sea in two, For His mercy endures forever; And made Israel pass through the midst of it, For His mercy endures forever; But overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea, For His mercy endures forever; (Talk about God’s miraculous deeds. Talk about how God not only delivers His children, but also defeats their enemies. Write down why you are thankful for this.)

16 To Him who led His people through the wilderness, For His mercy endures forever; (Talk about how God provided a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night as He led them. Talk about how God provided for all their needs in the wilderness. How does God lead you? How does He provide for you? Write it down.)

17, 18,19, 20 To Him who struck down great kings, For His mercy endures forever; And slew famous kings, For His mercy endures forever— Sihon king of the Amorites, For His mercy endures forever; And Og king of Bashan, For His mercy endures forever (Talk about God’s sovereignty in placing kings and replacing kings according to His plan. How does this show His mercy?)

21, 22 And gave their land as a heritage, For His mercy endures forever;  A heritage to Israel His servant, For His mercy endures forever. (God gives us an inheritance in Jesus Christ. What is an inheritance? Why is it good?)

23 Who remembered us in our lowly state, For His mercy endures forever; (God thinks about us. He remembers us. The God of heaven actually considers and communes with mortal men.)

24 And rescued us from our enemies, For His mercy endures forever; (God rescues us. How has God rescued each family member?)

25 Who gives food to all flesh, For His mercy endures forever. (God feeds everyone. The rain falls on the just and the unjust to show His mercy. Jesus is the Bread of Life for all who will partake.)

26 Oh, give thanks to the God of heaven! For His mercy endures forever. (From the earth below to the heavens above, He is God and He is worthy of our thanks. Not only that, He is worthy of our lives. Psalm 100 says,“It is He that hath made us and not we ourselves.” His mercy endures forever - one of the greatest reasons to give thanks!)

Before you feast on food, feast on Him who gives us richly all things to enjoy. May your family truly be blessed in knowing Him better this Holiday.

This article by Deborah Wuehler may also be seen on Crosswalk.com and Christianity.com.

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Posted by berrymorin

I'm just listening to Dr. Laura's Corny Joke Day show and blog visiting while waiting to start another phone shift. Here's wishing you and yours a Happy Thanksgiving Day.

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Posted by angelstar

What a wonderful thing to do for Thanksgiving or any day! It really fed my Spirit to read this! Thank you so much for sharing this. I love your blog - really cute backgrounds and graphics. Take care and God bless!

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Posted by LittleEblingsAcademy

Thanks for sharing these articles! They are very inspiring.

Blessings, Beckie

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Posted by kindredspiritMom

I just came back into "Blogland" and found your post today. I wish that I could have done this for our Thanksgiving...but now I have a plan for next year. Thanks so must for re-focusing me on the person of God this morning. He is good.
Blessings,
Michele

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Posted by Deb

I want to thank you for this article and the idea of using Psalm 136. I came across it through The O.S.M Homeschool Minute. So did the family with whom we were going to celebrate Thanksgiving.
For their devotional time this week, my children read Psalm 136 and then wrote in their journals one characteristic or attribute of God that was described in each verse. Throughout the week we wrote our thoughts of thanksgiving on slips of paper and placed them in a basket. Our encouragement to them was to focus on WHO God is, not just on what He has given us. This was a difficult concept for our younger children, but the journaling with Psalm 136 was helpful.
Last night, after our meal with our friends, we had a wonderful time of reading the slips of paper. Having the kids write down, throughout the week, what they were thankful for caused them to pause and think so that their thankfulness went past the typical answers of being thankful for their family, or dog, or whatever. Our older child was able to direct his thankfulness more towards who God is rather than just his provisions. I too have been very burdened by the fact that so many times when we give thanks in public gatherings, or in our prayers, we are thankful for the material things we have. I grew up in a third world country where believers are so much more focused on the person of God and His non-material blessings (grace, salvation, peace, guidance etc).

Thank you for giving us a new family tradition,
Deb

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