Thanksgiving Anyhow

In just a few days we will be celebrating a day of the year that many look forward to or just plain dread. It’s a day for eating and sleeping but most especially it’s a day to give Thanks. It’s a time of family dinners, and retail shopping. It’s a time for sleeping or relaxing reading etc. Especially in light of Covid-19 we should be even more thankful. We spent months, even years of self-isolation. Some today even does still. There’s reports of a new strain of said virus. Yet, still we can give thanks that God has seen us through. Several experienced hardships due to Covid-19, physical , medical, and financial; and I often think back to the first thanksgiving upon this country/colony.

A. Remembering the First Thanksgiving

1. The Pilgrims and their new land

The English colonists we call Pilgrims celebrated days of thanksgiving as part of their religion. But these were days of prayer, not days of feasting. Our national holiday really stems from the feast held in the autumn of 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag to celebrate the colony's first successful harvest.

2. The good harvest…. And many since

3. But we must also remember the many hardships they faced. they lost a good bit of their number. Many people died from diseases, and sickness, starvation. Adjusting to a new land.

4. In spite of losing almost half of their number they gave thanks anyway for the blessings that God gave them.

B. Habakkuk: A Prophet Who Vowed to Be Thankful even in Hard Times

Illstration: I think about the Walt Disney movie Pollyanna, Haley Mills- she always was playing the “Glad Game” when things were bad she found something to be glad about. One scene in there was they just got back from church the preacher wasn’t very good he preached gloom and doom made everyone sick. The maid asked her what was there to be glad about on Sunday Pollyanna thought for a moment and said well it will be six whole days before you have to go back.

(Pause for effect)

That’s the girl I want my nieces to be. That’s the people I believe God wants us to be.

The Book of Habakkuk is the eighth book of the 12 minor prophets of the Bible.[1] It is attributed to the prophet Habakkuk, and was probably composed in the late 7th century BC. The prophet Habakkuk is generally believed to have written his book in the mid-to-late 7th century BC, not long before the Babylonians' siege and capture of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Habakkuk identifies himself as a prophet in the opening verse. Due to the liturgical nature of the book of Habakkuk, there have been some scholars who think that the author may have been a temple prophet. Temple prophets are described in 1 Chronicles 25:1 as using lyres, harps and cymbals. Some feel that this is echoed in Habakkuk 3:19b, and that Habakkuk may have been a Levite and singer in the Temple.[3] It is unknown when Habakkuk lived and preached, but the reference to the rise and advance of the Chaldeans in 1:6–11 places him in the middle to last quarter of the 7th century BC.[7][8] One possible period might be during the reign of Jehoiakim, from 609–598 BC. The reasoning for this date is that it is during his reign that the Neo-Babylonian Empire of the Chaldeans was growing in power. The Babylonians marched against Jerusalem in 598 BC. Jehoiakim died while the Babylonians were marching towards Jerusalem and Jehoiakim's eighteen-year-old son Jehoiachin assumed the throne. Upon the Babylonians' arrival, Jehoiachin and his advisors surrendered Jerusalem after a short time. With the transition of rulers and the young age and inexperience of Jehoiachin, they were not able to stand against Chaldean forces. There is a sense of an intimate knowledge of the Babylonian brutality in 1:12–17.

In spite of his current predicament Habakkuk was:

1. One who loved God enough to thank Him in distress

(Job comes to mind) Job lost everything in spite of it all he honored and worshiped God.

2. How can one be thankful when things are difficult? With the distresses of life, uncertainty of the future. Concern for the welfare of family and friends even self. No one has gone through this year unscathed. We all have had to make adjustments, and we continue to do so. Habakkuk knew this. He saw things change and they were not to his liking. We too have undergone change especially within the last year, months and weeks. However,

II. Body

A. When the provisions of God changes be thankful He is unchanged. (v.17)

1. Habakkuk envisions losing things vital to their economy.

? How many is familiar with farming? Many of us can relate to this passage of scripture. We have seen fields planted early and we have seen fields planted late due to weather or not ay all. Or what we thought would be a good crop just doesn’t pan out. Or its lost at the last minute. (Hay harvested one day and burned the next)