Thanksgiving 1,456 B.C.
Deuteronomy 2:7
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It may not have been November, and they may not have had a 4 day weekend. Perhaps they weren’t greeted by Indians and didn’t feel much like settling down and ‘colonizing’ that wilderness. I’m sure they had no brass buckles or black hats to put them on. But the people of God in our text DID have much to be thankful for…and Moses reminded them of what they so easily and oft forgot.
40 years before this day God delivered them from slavery in Egypt, across the Red Sea miraculously, and set them on course for even better things in the Promised Land, not far away.
Deuteronomy 1:2-3
2 (There are eleven days’ journey from Horeb by the way of mount Seir unto Kadeshbarnea.) 3 And it came to pass in the fortieth year…
So much for a quick trip! These were God’s children, but they quickly forgot His wonderful works, and by focusing on the negative—what they didn’t have—and for murmuring and complaining and not being thankful, God allowed them to turn an 11 day scenic tour into a 40 year grudge match of meandering and mayhem. A whole generation of adults died, and now their kids were given another chance.
They didn’t have turkey…but they had eaten quail for decades now! There wasn’t any gravy, noodles, or stuffing, but they had prepared manna every which way to Sunday: fried manna, boiled manna, pickled manna, breaded manna, baked manna, reduced fat manna, and manna on the half shell, and for dessert some banana manna or pineapple upside down manna! Moses takes some time to recount all that God had done for them and how they shouldn’t forget, but stop and give thanks.
Deuteronomy 6:12
Then beware lest thou forget the LORD, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.
Moses reminded Israel of:
1. GOD’S PROVIDENCE. - "God hath blessed thee"
It was gratitude that prompted an old man to visit an old broken pier on the eastern seacoast of Florida. Every Friday night, until his death in 1973, he would return, walking slowly and slightly stooped with a large bucket of shrimp. The seagulls would flock to this old man, and he would feed them from his bucket. Many years before, in October, 1942, Captain Eddie Rickenbacker was on a mission in a B-17 to deliver an important message to General Douglas MacArthur in New Guinea. But there was an unexpected detour which would hurl Captain Eddie into the most harrowing adventure of his life.
Somewhere over the South Pacific the Flying Fortress became lost beyond the reach of radio. Fuel ran dangerously low, so the men abandoned their plane for the ocean. For nearly a month Captain Eddie and his companions would fight the water, the weather, and the scorching sun. They spent many sleepless nights recoiling as giant sharks rammed their rafts.
But of all their enemies at sea, one proved most formidable—starvation. Eight days out, their rations were long gone or destroyed by the salt water. It would take a miracle to sustain them. And a miracle occurred. As Captain Rickenbacker said, "Something landed on my head. I knew that it was a seagull. I don’t know how I knew, I just knew. Everyone else knew too. No one said a word, but peering out from under my hat brim without moving my head, I could see the expression on their faces. They were staring at that gull. The gull meant food if I could catch it."
Captain Eddie caught the gull. They consumed most of it, and the rest was used for bait to catch fish. The survivors were sustained and their hopes renewed because a lone sea gull, uncharacteristically hundreds of miles from land, became a sacrifice.
Captain Eddy never forgot, because every Friday evening, about sunset, he would visit that pier to remember the seagull, which on a day long past, gave itself without a struggle.
This man was thankful for what that seagull had done for him. To show his thanks, he served those seagulls by bringing them food. If that man was willing to commit the rest of his life to feeding the seagulls, how much more should we commit our lives to Christ? How much more should we serve Him? After all, He saved us not just from an earthly death, but from an eternal death!
As told by Dr. Paul Chappell
God in His providence has always taken care of you. Will you now make Him a return commitment? Don’t just mind your own business…make the Lord’s business your heart’s desire for the remainder of your life. Do your givin’ while you’re livin’, and remember, there’s only 1 life, ‘twill soon be past, and only what’s done for Christ will last!
2. GOD’S PERCEPTION. - "he knoweth"
Psalms 103:14
For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.
Psalms 139:1-3
1 O LORD, thou hast searched me, and known me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off. 3 Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways.
Matthew 6:8
…your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
God made us, and knows us inside and out in His perception. But our perception is different than God’s. We forget all His benefits so easily, and we must come across to Him like, “what have you done for me lately?”
The story is told of two old friends bumped into one another on the street one day. One of them looked forlorn, almost on the verge of tears. His friend asked, "What has the world done to you, my old friend?"
The sad fellow said, "Let me tell you. Three weeks ago, an uncle died and left me forty thousand dollars."
"That’s a lot of money."
"But, two weeks ago, a cousin I never even knew died, and left me eighty-five thousand free and clear."
"Sounds like you’ve been blessed...."
"You don’t understand!" he interrupted. "Last week my
great-aunt passed away. I inherited almost a quarter of a million."
Now he was really confused. "Then, why do you look so
glum?"
"This week... nothing!"
That’s the trouble with receiving something on a regular basis. Even if it is a gift, we eventually come to expect it. This is the “entitlement mindset” that has permeated American society at almost every level. We have been blessed to live in a land of plenty and as a result we become complacent.
Psalms 103:2
Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
God’s Perception? He knoweth! Do you know what He has done for you?
3. GOD’S PLAN. - "thy walking"
Psalms 37:23
The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
When devastating floods came to Mozambique in the year 2000, families were separated as they fled from the rising waters. The death toll rose as the floods receded and bodies that had been submerged were discovered. Some counts were in the thousands. One Mozambique minister named Samuel Naftal gave thanks to God and mosquitoes for saving his life.
As Samuel Naftal, along with sixteen other people, clung tightly to the limbs of trees for two days, he began to preach. All of them hoped his preaching would keep them alert to their surroundings. They listened and watched as furniture, televisions, and dead cows floated by. Then the mosquitoes began swarming around them, repeatedly biting them. Naftal testified, ‘I thank God for those mosquitoes because they kept me from falling asleep. If we had fallen asleep we would have been carried away by the water.’ He and the others hung on and were finally able to wade to safety as the waters began to recede.
It’s not often that we are thankful for something like mosquitoes. They’ve ruined a lot of fun times outside on a summer night. (We sometimes wonder if it was really necessary that they had a place on Noah’s ark.) But God has a plan at all times, whether we recognize it or not. Will we trust Him and trust His plan?
4. GOD’S PURPOSE. - "through this great wilderness"
Deuteronomy 8:2
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
The Lord knows what He’s doing, and His plan is the vehicle which brings His purpose in our lives. He is teaching us all the time, and we seem to learn the most ‘in the desert of our days.’
5. GOD’S PATIENCE. - “these 40 years”
Acts 13:18
And about the time of forty years suffered he their manners in the wilderness.
When it comes to patience, our God is the ultimate! Why does He put up with me? How can He still be willing to work on me? And He still has a plan and a purpose for me? Yes! How patient is He!
To be truly thankful, we need only be ‘thinkful’. Think and it won’t take long to see that God has blessed you richly. And He’s patient.
“He’s been there all the time waiting patiently in line.”
6. GOD’S PRESENCE. - "pillar of cloud and fire"
Matthew 28: “Lo, I am with you always.”
Hebrews 13:5
I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
7. GOD’S PROVISION. - "thou hast lacked nothing"
Deuteronomy 8:4
Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
Psalms 34:10
The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.
Will we be thankful, or will we be like 9 of the 10 lepers Jesus healed in Luke 17?
The sun had just risen on a hot August day in 1944, in the small village of Plelo, in German-occupied France. The fifteen-year-old boy did not know why he and the other citizens of Plelo had been lined up before a firing squad in the middle of the town square. Perhaps they were being punished for harboring a unit of Marquisards, the French underground freedom fighters. All the boy knew was that he was about to die.
As he stood before the firing squad, maybe he thought back to the carefree days of his early childhood, before the war. Perhaps he thought of all he would miss by never growing up. Most of all he was probably terrified of dying.
Suddenly, the boy heard the sound of exploding mortar shells beyond the limits of his little village. Quickly rolling tanks could also be heard. The Germans were forced to abandon the firing squad and face a small unit of U.S. tanks with twenty GI’s led by Bob Hamsley, a corporal in Patton’s Third Army. A Marquisard captain had asked Hamsley for help. After three hours, fifty Nazis were dead, and the other fifty were taken prisoner.
In 1990, the town of Plelo honored Bob Hamsley on the very spot where dozens of the town’s citizens would have died if not for him. The man who initiated the search for Hamsley to honor him in that ceremony was the former mayor of Plelo, that same fifteen-year-old boy. He was grateful for Hamsley who had risked his own life to save his and many others’ and now as a grown man had determined to find and honor him.
When you are truly thankful for what someone has done for you, you will desire to express that thanks to them. Years ago, a much greater sacrifice was made willingly for you and for me. Are you thankful for what Christ did for you on Calvary? How often do you thank Him for His sacrifice?
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