Thanksgiving Eve - Psalm 100:1-5
Harriet Martineau was an atheist. One morning she & a friend stepped out into the glories of a beautiful fall morning. As she saw the brilliant sun peaking through the haze, & the frost on the meadow, & the brightly colored leaves making their way lazily to the ground, she was filled with the beauty & burst forth with "I am so thankful. I’m just so grateful for it all." And her believing friend asked, "Grateful to whom, my dear?"
That’s a good question at Thanksgiving. If you’re grateful, if you’re really thankful, then the next question would have to be, "Grateful to whom?"
Psalm 100 answers:
"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, & we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture… give thanks to Him & praise His name.”
As far as I know, we are the only country in the world, except for Canada & the Philippines, that has a Thanksgiving Day? I wonder how our world would be changed if suddenly all nations would begin to observe Thanksgiving?
IRSHAD MANJI is a Moderate Islamic Scholar. She observed in the NY Times that there exists a large gulf in attitudes toward religion, between Europeans and North Americans. It’s seen interestingly in the Hijab- the headscarf that many Muslim women wear as a signal of modesty.
To a lot of Europeans, she said, still steeped in memories of the Catholic Church’s intellectual repression, religion is an irrational force. So women who cover themselves are foolish at best, and dangerous otherwise.
Not so in North America. Because it has long been a society of immigrants seeking religious tolerance, religion itself is not seen as irrational - even if what some people do with it might be, as in the case of terrorism. “Which means Muslims in North America tend to be judged less by what we wear than by what we do - or don’t do, like speaking out against Islamist violence.”
But there’s something else going on. The mass immigration of Muslims in Europe is bringing faith back into the public realm and creating a post-Enlightenment modernity for Western Europe. This return of religion threatens secular humanism, the orthodoxy that has prevailed since the French Revolution.
And so, from Amsterdam to Barcelona to Paris to Berlin, people incredulously ask me one type of question that I’m never asked in the United States and Canada: Why does an independent-minded woman care about God? Why do you need religion at all?
If we’re going to say "thank you" we must say "thank you" to somebody. Make sure that it is the right somebody.
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving & His courts with praise; give thanks to Him & praise His name. For the Lord is good & His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations."
Vs. 1, "Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth."
It means to "shout with the force of a trumpet blast," a shout of joy to the Lord that comes from the very depths of your being.
Maybe God solved your problem. Maybe He has given you the direction to go. Maybe He has provided a blessing, & you realize that it has come from God. So from the depths of your being you proclaim your praise.
ILL. Roland Allen tells about a veteran missionary who was a medical missionary for many years in India. He served in a region where there was progressive blindness. People were born with healthy vision, but there was something in that area that caused people to lose their sight as they matured.
But this missionary had developed a process which would arrest progressive blindness. So people came to him & he performed his operation, & they would leave realizing that they would have become blind, but now they were going to be able to see for the rest of their lives.
He said that they never said, "Thank you," because that phrase was not in their dialect. Instead, they spoke a word that meant, "I will tell your name." Wherever they went, they would tell the name of the missionary who had cured their blindness. They had received something so wonderful that they eagerly proclaimed it.
And that is what the Psalmist is saying. "Suddenly you realize that God has been so good to you that you can’t keep it inside any more. From the depths of your being you shout your joy unto the Lord."
"Worship the Lord with gladness. Come before Him with joyful songs." Another passage says, "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord." You and I can do that!!
Have you noticed? In these first 2 verses, God has said, "I want you to be happy. Shout with joy, worship with gladness, & come with joyful songs."
-> Lord inhabits praises -> inhabits US. -> Purpose: Glorify God and enjoy Him forever!!
"Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, & we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture."
Now, someplace along the way He had you in mind, & He made you.
And He is still making us. That is important, too. He’s not satisfied with the unfinished product. He’s not satisfied with your temper. He’s not satisfied with the weak areas of your life where you are giving in to temptation. So He’s still making us. He’s still working on our lives.
God is your maker, & you are created in His image. Therefore give Him thanks for who you are.
"We are His people, the sheep of His pasture."
Like sheep, we don’t really know where the still waters & green pastures are. But we go out looking for them, anyway. And every time we go out searching for them, we invariably end up in the far country.
He is saying, "You be the sheep. Let me be the shepherd, & I will lead you beside the still waters & the green pastures. Just let me lead."
Make an effort today to recognize the blessings you’ve come to take for granted. Focus on what you have rather than on what you don’t have, and see if it doesn’t improve your attitude.
A few suggestions:
Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you want. If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don’t know something, this gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times. During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations, because they give you
opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge, because it will build strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes. They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you’re tired and weary, because it means you’ve made a difference.
It’s pretty easy to be thankful for the good things. But, a life of true fulfillment can come to those who are also thankful for the setbacks. As hard as it may be, find a way to be thankful for your troubles, and they can become your blessings.
During WWII, when Corrie Ten Boom was at the concentration camp, she stayed in Barracks number 28. And it was infested with fleas. It was almost unbearable. But one night, they read the same passage of scripture we’re looking at now: "Give thanks in all circumstances." And Corrie’s sister said, "God wants us to thank him for the
fleas."
And Corrie said, "No way! That’s taking religion just a little bit too far! I’m NOT going to thank God for these infernal fleas!"
After a while, the nightly Bible studies attracted more and more women. And Corrie started wondering if they would get caught. And so she asked one of the women, "Why don’t the Nazis ever come in and check on us?" And she said,
"It’s because of the fleas. They won’t come near this place for that reason." And then Corrie remembered this Bible verse and said, "God, thank you for the fleas!"
Make a commitment tonight that you are going to cut out complaining and begin to praise God.
I remember one guy say, “Whenever I start gripping my wife always says to me, ‘Would you like some cheese with your whine?’”
Avoid complaining at all cost. Paul wrote in Philippians 2:14, "Do everything without complaining and arguing so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe."
I’ve heard people who have had to spend time in jail say it was the best thing that happened to them. Chuck Colson would never have been the powerful Christian influence he is today, had he not gone to prison.
Have you ever heard of Michael J Fox? He’s a TV and movie actor who has Parkinson’s Disease. And he said in his book that "if you made a deal with God that he would take away my Parkinson’s disease and cancel out the last ten years of my life, I would tell you to take a hike. My life is so good now. I’m helping a lot of people cope with the stigma of this disease. And it makes me appreciate life as a precious gift."
2 Corinthians 1:4 says that God comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. So thank God for our troubles!
Sometimes it is not easy at all. But that can be when it is most needed.
A great theologian once observed that for thanksgiving to be valid it is essential that our thanksgiving take the nature of a sacrifice. “A Sacrifice of Thanksgiving.” OT believers would come to worship and offer a thank offering – a real sacrificial offering.
If one stops to think for just a moment it is evident that all-important demonstrations of love have sacrifice involved.
-> Clothes and Kids Reeboks $$$
Ps 50:23 He who sacrifices thank offerings honors me, and he prepares the way so that I may show him the salvation of God.
“Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18).
"Enter His gates with thanksgiving, & His courts with praise; give thanks to Him & praise His name. For the Lord is good & His love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations."
As we look around us at the land of plenty that we live in, it is my prayer that we will see through new eyes each day the ways that God has blessed us and never take God or those blessings for granted.
This year, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, may we each see God - for who he really is, & see ourselves as who we really are: People who have been blessed beyond measure, and people who NEED to give thanks to the giver of all good gifts.
We have been given the bread of life, we know this bread and have had our only lasting hunger sated, may we now be truly thankful to the God who deserves our thanksgiving!
