In the spring of 1621, after having landed at Plymouth and survived the first hard winter, the Pilgrims weren’t doing very well. Many people died during the winter. Two Native Americans named Squanto and Samorset, helped the Pilgrims learn how to survive in the new land by showing them farming techniques and by teaching them how to gather certain natural foods from the forest. By the fall things had greatly improved, and the Pilgrims had such an abundance of food that they decided to celebrate with a feast of thanksgiving.(1)
The Pilgrims celebrated by giving thanks unto God for His provisions. Today, Thanksgiving appears to be the only time that some people give Him thanks; but the Lord wants us to thank Him each and every day of our lives. At all times and in every situation of life, God wants us to do as Paul said in Ephesians 5:20, in which he declared, “Give thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
Think for a moment. Is our thanksgiving rooted in an overwhelming praise unto God for our salvation? Or is our thanks rooted in earthly things? Do we rejoice in the God of our salvation as our strength? The question is really this: If the worst thing we could possibly imagine were to become true for us today, could we say “Yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will give thanks to the God of my salvation?”
The Thanksgiving holiday can be a misleading time, because some people will think that this is the only time to give thanks unto God. We need to understand that Thanksgiving is not just a day, but a lifestyle. It is the life that we are called to live in Jesus Christ. If we say “thank you” today, if we put on a thankful appearance on one day, but that one day is not an accurate representation of our lives, then we are not truthful before God. We should be thankful each and every day! If our thankfulness is rooted only in God’s “gifts,” but not in God “Himself,” then our thanksgiving is shallow and superficial. We must learn to rejoice in the Lord and take joy in the God of our salvation. We must learn to give thanks always, and in all things. Our thanksgiving must be rooted in God himself.
The prophet Habakkuk provides us with an example of someone who understood “unconditional thanksgiving,” which is the kind of thanksgiving we should demonstrate. Let’s take a look at Habakkuk and see what we can learn from this man of great faith concerning giving thanks unto God.
Rejoice in the Lord Always (Habakkuk 3:17-19)
17 Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; though the labor of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; though the flock may be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls— 18 Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation.19 The LORD God is my strength; He will make my feet like deer’s feet, and He will make me walk on my high hills.
Before we get started, we need to understand the context behind what the prophet was saying. Commentator Warren Wiersbe says, “This is one of the greatest confessions of faith found anywhere in the Scripture. Habakkuk has faced the frightening fact that his nation will be invaded by a merciless enemy [which is Babylon]. The prophet knows that many of the people will go into exile and many will be slain. The land will be ruined, and Jerusalem and the temple will be destroyed. Yet, he tells God that he will trust Him no matter what happens!”
“If Habakkuk had depended on his feelings, he would have never made this great confession of faith. [When] Habakkuk looked ahead, he saw a nation headed for destruction and that frightened him. When he looked within, he saw himself trembling with fear, and when he looked around, he saw everything in the economy about to fall apart. But when he looked up by faith, he saw God, and all his fears vanished.”(2)
Right here, we see that Habakkuk was thankful to the Lord even though there would be a lack of food and his physical needs might not have been met. These verses represent unconditional thanksgiving! The word “unconditional” means not dependent on, or conditioned by any external thing, but rooted in God alone, rooted in the experience of the wonder of salvation. Our thanksgiving unto the Lord should be unconditional, just as God’s love for His people is unconditional.
God’s love for Israel was definitely unconditional, as is His love for us. In Deuteronomy 7:7-8 we read, “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” The Lord did not deliver Israel from Egypt because He was pleased with the amount of people. Israel was not that great in number. He chose Israel because He was faithful to the promise He had made that He would make of Israel a great nation. God is always faithful and ever loving.
We need to be consistent and faithful in giving thanks unto the Lord, because He is consistent and faithful in loving us. “An evergreen [tree] is always green despite the changes in weather around it. It is green in the heat of summer as well as the cold of winter. So also, our lives are to be characterized by an enduring thankfulness that is unaffected by the changes around us. When the heat of a pressured week or deadly cold of pain strikes us, we should stand ‘ever green,’ always thankful, regardless of that which surrounds us.”(3)
The thanksgiving that Habakkuk spoke of is a thanksgiving not dependent upon any object, thing or circumstance, but it finds its source in God alone. It is not dependent upon the things that God has given, but upon who God is. Habakkuk wished to say, “Even if all my worldly comforts were taken away and God allowed my life to become desolate of any earthly ease, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. I will return to His presence with thanks.” He was proclaiming that his thanksgiving would not be infrequent. It would not be shallow. It would not only be given when things were agreeable and comfortable, but always-because his thanksgiving would be rooted in a profound, personal, and real experience of God’s salvation and of God’s present strength.
I am reminded of the song by Matt Redman called “Blessed Be Your Name.” He sings, “Blessed be Your name in the land that is plentiful; where Your streams of abundance flow, blessed be Your name. Blessed be Your name when I’m found in the desert place; though I walk through the wilderness, blessed be Your name. Every blessing You pour out I’ll turn back to praise. When the darkness closes in Lord still I will say, blessed be the name of the Lord . . . Blessed be Your glorious name . . . You give and take away . . . my heart will choose to say, Lord blessed be Your name.” The inspiration for this song came from Job, where he declared, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).
Habakkuk spoke here not merely of the loss of everyday comforts, but of the very supports of his earthly life. He imagined one of the darkest pictures a person could possibly know. He used the language of the agriculture of his day. He said, if the fig tree does not blossom (the fig was a stable food for them); the labor of the olive fail (the olive tree brought oil for cooking); the fields would have no meat (the corn, the barley, the wheat – no food to be brought to the storage bins); the flocks would be cut off from the fold (sheep, which would give them wool and meat, would not be in existence); the herds would not be found in the stalls (the barns would be empty and the livestock dead and gone). He imagined complete economic ruin and disaster; and circumstances leading to famine, hunger, crying children, and malnutrition.
He was talking about the collapse of the economy, somewhat similar to the Great Depression, but more severe. Americans have so much today that there is no telling how they would respond if another Depression were to strike; and though we are in and out of “recession,” hopefully we will never have to see another Depression. Habakkuk basically said, although my job would be gone; my income would be cut off; my ability to provide one mouthful of food taken away, and we could add to that, my health or my loved ones; yet, I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
Bible commentator Matthew Henry, after being robbed once, wrote in his diary the following message about thankfulness: “Let me be thankful. First, because I was never robbed before. Second, because although they took my wallet, they did not take my life. Third, because although they took my all, it was not much. Fourth, because it was I who was robbed, not I who robbed.”(4)
In Psalm 51:12 David said, “Restore unto me the joy of Your salvation.” Are you thankful unto God for your salvation? Or, are you thankful only for what He gives you in terms of this life – material things, and so forth? Now, do not misunderstand what I am saying. We must be thankful for His gifts so abundantly bestowed on us: water, food, jobs, clothes, cars, income, our health. God gives it all. None of it really comes by our own efforts. It is all “given to us” and we are supposed to thank God who has placed into our hands everything we have. Absolutely everything comes to us from God. Our thanksgiving, if it is to be true and lasting, must go deeper. Our thanksgiving must be “in” the God who has given all. It must ultimately be a profound thanks unto God for His salvation, and for His grace to you and me. So, how should we thank Him? Well, let’s look at Habakkuk.
Habakkuk’s thanksgiving had no reservations in it. There is no part, which says, “Well, we better not get too excited about this.” Come what may, we should declare, “I will rejoice. I will joy in the God of my salvation.” The word “rejoice” means a leap for joy. He makes my feet like deer’s feet – Habakkuk says – the feet of a deer that is swift and leaps through the air, whose spirit soars. He says, “I will walk upon the high hills” or mountains. The idea here is of victory and calmness, rest and serenity, looking over all the land in victory. He spoke of an abundant, spiritual joy – unquenchable and victorious.
Time of Reflection
We must ask ourselves this morning, do we know God. Do we know His salvation that is freely given? Is the Lord God our strength? Do we belong unto Him by having salvation through Jesus Christ? If so, then what situation is there in which we cannot praise Him? We have the highest gift. In Jesus Christ our feet run upon the high places. So, are we thankful always, in all things?
You see, thanksgiving is born in one place. It is born when God has shown us that we are sinners, and when we realize His amazing love and grace. We sometimes say that a person cannot be thankful until he or she knows what it’s like to be without. This is so true. One cannot be thankful until he or she realizes that we are all sinners destined to die an eternal death in hell; and then coming to find that we have been saved by grace because Jesus died for our sins on the cross. One cannot be thankful until a person knows their sin and then experiences God’s amazing love and undeserved forgiveness.
Then, in knowing God and knowing His Son, Jesus as Savior and Lord, there is absolutely no condition which can ever come upon us in which we cannot praise the Lord, and take joy in the God of our salvation.(5)
NOTES
(1) Jerry Falwell, An Old-fashioned Thanksgiving. Taken from the Internet November 2000 at http://www.trbc.org/sermons/971123.html.
(2) Warren Wiersbe, The Wiersbe Bible Commentary, The Complete Old Testament in One Volume (David C. Cook: Colorado Springs, 2007), p. 1478.
(3) Michael P. Green, Illustrations for Biblical Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), p. 375.
(4) Ibid., p. 376
(5) “Unconditional Thanksgiving,” Reformed Witness Hour: https://reformedwitnesshour.org/broadcast/unconditional-thanksgiving/ (Accessed November 17, 2021). This sermon was my inspiration for this message, and I originally accessed it in the year 2000.
