Give Thanks to God on days when all appears to be lost?

Give Thanks to God on days when all appears to be lost?

Of course most people in America are told that the first Thanksgiving meal was in New England and the joining together of Europeans and Native Indians began their first community event.  A lot has changed since then, but the tradition of being thankful remains our most meaningful way of sharing human resources without putting anyone down.  

Let’s go back in human history, before that first sharing of cultures and see how much the Israelites realized what thanking the Lord meant:  “From the belly of the fish Jonah said this prayer to the Lord, his God:  “Out of my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me; From the midst of the nether world I cried for help, and you heard my voice.  For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the sea, and the flood enveloped me; All your breakers and your billows passed over me.”  Then I said, “I am banished from your sight!”  yet would I look upon your holy temple.”  :”Down I went to the roots of the mountains, the bars of the nether world were closing behind me forever, But you brought up my life from the pit, O Lord, my God.”  (Jon 2: 1 - 5, 7).  A sense of what thanksgiving should reflect to us in 2023.

“Save me, O God, for the waters have reached my neck.  I have sunk into the mire of the deep, where there is no foothold.  I have gone down to the watery depths; the flood overwhelms me.  I am weary with crying out;  my throat is parched, My eyes have failed, looking for my God.”  “But I pray to you, Lord, for the time of your favor.  God, in your great kindness answer me with your constant help.”  “But I am afflicted and in pain; let your saving help protect me, God, that I may praise God’s name in song and glorify it with thanksgiving.  My song will please the Lord more than oxen, more than bullocks with horns and hooves:  See, you lowly ones, and be glad; you who seek God, take heart!  For the Lord hears the poor, does not spurn those in bondage.”

(Ps 69: 1 - 4, 14, 30 - 34).  A wonderful example that parallels the suffering of Christ and stands as a metaphor we must use when the struggles of life must see how God does not reject us in spite of what appears to be insurmountable.  Thank God for the bad as well as the good.

“Shout joyfully to the Lord, all you lands; worship the Lord with cries of gladness;  come before him with joyful song.  Know that the Lord is God, our maker to whom we belong, whose people we are, God’s well-tended flock.  Enter the temple gates with praise, his courts with thanksgiving.  Give thanks to God, bless his name;  good indeed is the Lord, whose love endures forever, whose faithfulness lasts through every age.”  (Ps 100: 1 - 5).

Most of us will sit down with family and invited friends.  The laborious efforts of stuffing a turkey, mashing potatoes, baking pumpkin and other pies,will whet the appetites of all in attendance.  Take but a moment to bow our heads in thanksgiving to God that here we don’t hear bombs and for most our deceased members are a living memory.  For that alone we should give thanks.  Give God the praise he deserves and thank him for each other.  Do not exclude the meaning of thanks by just a passing word and consume the fair someone has prepared.  Christ is with us even at this feast and will smile beyond our expectations knowing we included him to sit with us.

Ralph B. Hathaway