A Day of Thanksgiving and Praise to God

History is an excellent teacher that reveals how society tends to drift from the intended purposes of forefathers.  The national holiday of Thanksgiving in the Unites States is a testimony of this.  When I went to school, in connection with Thanksgiving we learned about the Mayflower and Plymouth Rock, dressed up as pilgrims and Native Americans, and traced our hands to draw turkeys.  We were taught the pilgrims and Indians gathered for a meal to give thanks to God.  In recent years Thanksgiving has almost wholly given way to "Turkey Day" in the media.  This year was the first year I heard people wanting the holiday struck from the calendar because of the assertion at its root Thanksgiving is a celebration of colonisation and subjugation.  This accusation is far from the truth.

I decided to look into the history of Thanksgiving as a national holiday and was pleasantly surprised to see no mention whatsoever of the voyage on the Mayflower, no reference to Native Americans or turkeys:  it was a day appointed by president Abraham Lincoln for all the United States to give thanks to God.  The time frame of this day of thanksgiving and praise to God is compelling because in 1863 the United States were in the midst of a prolonged and bloody civil war.  George Washington and individual States had set apart various days for thanksgiving to God, but Abraham Lincoln is the one who enshrined Thanksgiving as a national holiday.  Here is a copy of Abraham Lincoln's "Thanksgiving Proclamation" for all to read:

"The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty God. In the midst of a civil war of unequalled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign States to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere except in the theatre of military conflict; while that theatre has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union. Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defence, have not arrested the plough, the shuttle or the ship; the axe has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well of iron and coal as of the precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased, notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege and the battle-field; and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom. No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged as with one heart and one voice by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquillity and Union."  --Abraham Lincoln

In the midst of a global pandemic God remains as worthy of thanksgiving and praise because He remains glorious and good.  When all the trappings of what many celebrate as "Turkey Day" are stripped away, God shines forth with undimmed grace, provision and kindness despite our sinful, idolatrous and wicked ways.  Even when people are at war with God and all that He stands for, He offers hope, peace, liberty and eternal life to all who trust in Him.  May our lives be a proclamation of thanksgiving and praise to God for the wonderful blessings He has provided us and the healing available to souls and nations who honour Him.

Marvelous are God's Works

I read a news article yesterday about a "monolith" being found in Utah desert that hearkened back to the ground-breaking science fiction film by Stanley Kubrick, 2001: A Space Odyssey.  As a person who believes the biblical account that God created the heavens, the earth and all living things, the irony of the situation is most amusing.

The 9NEWS article begins, "A bizarre four-metre high metal block found in the isolated wilderness of the Utah desert is the work of a dead sculpture artist, his former agent believes.  Officials from the Utah Department of Public Safety Aero Bureau stumbled upon the shiny monolith on November 18 while conducting a survey on big horn sheep.  The object has no signifying marks but appears to have been bolted to the ground with "human-made rivets".  The metal block in isolated wilderness is called "bizarre" because reason tells us polished stainless steel never presents itself naturally in erect monoliths.  Based upon our knowledge of the world and the identification of rivets (which are always man-made with a matching male/female components and pressed together) confirms without a doubt it was placed there by someone.  The debate is only about who might be responsible--with no one arguing this shiny block occurred by chance.

Isn't it ironic people debate the sudden appearance of a stainless steel object in a desert but little consideration is given to countless living things which teem upon the earth and reproduce after their kind?  In 2001: A Space Odyssey the existence of primates living in a barren wilderness to me is a far more curious and improbable development than the sudden appearance of a looming, inert monolith.  The same living, reasoning people who assume a monolith must have been constructed by someone because of the design cannot see and refuse to acknowledge their existence on this planet is far more impossible and necessitates being created.  Is not a human being infinitely more complex than a sculpture of steel?  When I consider the intricacies of the human body and the ability of people, plants, animals and insects to reproduce after their own kind, I gaze upon living beings which cannot reasonably have arisen by chance and natural selection alone.  It would be infinitely easier for a block of steel with "human-made rivets" to appear in the desert without a sculptor than for a male and female human being to exist at the same time on this planet and produce a healthy baby without a Creator.

David acknolwedged God as his Creator who knows all and does marvels in Psalm 139:11-19:  "If I say, "Surely the darkness shall fall on me," even the night shall be light about me; ¹² indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, but the night shines as the day; the darkness and the light are both alike to You. ¹³ For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb. ¹⁴ I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. ¹⁵ My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret, and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. ¹⁶ Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, the days fashioned for me, when as yet there were none of them. ¹⁷ How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! ¹⁸ If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; when I awake, I am still with You."  It is a small marvel a block of shiny metal would be erected in the desert compared to the marvel God is who created man and does miraculous things, whose thoughts toward us are more numerous than the grains of sand.  Great is the LORD and worthy to be praised!

What God has Done!

When we moved into our house, we were tasked to point out flaws in craftsmanship with painter's tape to be repaired by the builder.  For months the blue tape had become familiar decor, signposts and reminders of flaws all around.  Since our builder has "done a runner" (as we say in Australia) and will not be back to rectify the blemishes in the walls and paint, this morning I went throughout the house and removed all the tape.  I can't tell you how much better things look without those attention-grabbing bits of tape.  There are actually more blemishes now, seeing as the tape removed some poorly adhered paint, but the eye is not drawn to the defects as before.

As I picked the tape off the walls, ceiling and woodwork, it provided insight of our tendency as humans to find faults in ourselves and draw attention to them.  There is no question we all have our faults and one common to man is to look for flaws and focus on them.  Our power to see and perceive is a blessing but we can turn it into a curse.  The irony is we are drawn notice the flaws of others because we are flawed ourselves, for we do not need to be perfect to find fault.  All is faulty before the holy, righteous God who chooses to bless instead of curse:  He gives grace and justly imputes righteousness to those who trust Him.

Balak hired Balaam to curse Israel, but all he could do was bless God's people.  These people at times had sin in the camp, yet God's view of them was most favourable.  Balaam announced in Numbers 23:20-23, "Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it. ²¹ "He has not observed iniquity in Jacob, nor has He seen wickedness in Israel. The LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a King is among them. ²² God brings them out of Egypt; He has strength like a wild ox. ²³ "For there is no sorcery against Jacob, nor any divination against Israel. It now must be said of Jacob and of Israel, 'Oh, what God has done!'"  What favour God had shown His people!  What grace, that God would dwell among His people and not focus on their faults because their sin was covered by an atoning sacrifice.

Like my eyes are drawn to blemishes in building, so our eyes can be drawn to focus on our own faults and those of others.  Those who cover their sin shall not prosper, and neither is it profitable to judge others critically without God's grace.  Freely we have received God's grace, and freely we should give it.  Take the tape off the walls, and remove the fault-finding blinders from our eyes which are common to men.  It is not that people are perfect but we do so because our great God is perfect and has beauty beyond this world who loves, accepts and forgives us by His grace.  In light of poor workmanship we could ask those who painted our house, "What did you do?"  We are far better served to dwell on "What God has done!" with praise to Him. 

Affliction is...Good?

"It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes."

Psalm 119:71

Being afflicted is not fun, but scripture teaches it is beneficial and providential.  To be afflicted is to be abased, humbled, to depress and look down.  Affliction does not feel good but does great good.  The psalmist wrote in a preceding verse in Psalm 119:67, "Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your word."  Failure to keep God's word led to affliction that prompted one suffering the consequences of sin to look to God, learn His statutes and walk in them.  Solomon wrote of the benefits of sorrow in Ecclesiastes 7:2-3:  "Better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting, for that is the end of all men; and the living will take it to heart. ³ Sorrow is better than laughter, for by a sad countenance the heart is made better."

Because we care about others it is natural we are not pleased to see them suffer affliction.  We can be afflicted through their affliction, and thus our motive to bring it to a swift end can be self-serving.  Our desire is for the affliction to end so we pray God would change the circumstances or attempt to intervene.  It is comforting to know behind all affliction people endure is a sovereign God full of love who is able to redeem it for His good purposes while refining our character.  I wonder if sometimes our short-sighted efforts work to undermine what God intends to accomplish through affliction.  We miss the point:  we imagine the appropriate end is for affliction to end, whilst God's end is to change people for good.  No matter how much we attempt to shoulder the load, the one who is afflicted (like a woman carrying a child in her womb) has a load only they can carry.

Our natural tendency is to seek help from people rather than God like the sick seek medicine from a physician.  This is well illustrated in Israel and Judah, and God spoke through the prophet in Hosea 5:13-15:  "When Ephraim saw his sickness, and Judah saw his wound, then Ephraim went to Assyria and sent to King Jareb; yet he cannot cure you, nor heal you of your wound. ¹⁴ For I will be like a lion to Ephraim, and like a young lion to the house of Judah. I, even I, will tear them and go away; I will take them away, and no one shall rescue. ¹⁵ I will return again to My place till they acknowledge their offense. Then they will seek My face; in their affliction they will earnestly seek Me."  God's people recognised they were suffering but did not seek the LORD:  they sought the help of foreign kings and idolatrous nations.  God would tear His people as a lion yet not to utterly destroy or consume them.  He would afflict them, take them away and return to His place--until they acknowledged their offense before Him.  God is longsuffering and willing to wait.  Though painful for Him, God knew how affliction would positively impact them:  after years of sinful wandering they would finally seek Him earnestly.  Instead of seeking the end of their affliction they would go to the One who graciously chastened them and could cure them.

Is not the wisdom of God past finding out?  How marvelous is the grace of God to deal thus with His erring servants faithfully.  It gives Him no pleasure to see people suffer and even die in their sins so He will redeem affliction for our good.  Out of great affliction the prophet Jeremiah said in Lamentations 3:22-33:  "Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. ²³ They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ²⁴ "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I hope in Him!" ²⁵ The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him. ²⁶ It is good that one should hope and wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD. ²⁷ It is good for a man to bear the yoke in his youth. ²⁸ Let him sit alone and keep silent, because God has laid it on him; ²⁹ Let him put his mouth in the dust--there may yet be hope. ³⁰ Let him give his cheek to the one who strikes him, and be full of reproach. ³¹ For the Lord will not cast off forever. ³² Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. ³³ For He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men."  The LORD alone supplies balm for an afflicted soul.

For the Christian, no affliction is forever.  It is meted out for a season by the grace of God with compassion according to His steadfast mercy and faithfulness.  Our greatest griefs are all swallowed up in the goodness of our God.  James 5:13 bids us in our affliction to shift our focus to God:   "Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing psalms."  God is faithful to comfort those who mourn and turns our sorrow into joy.  Affliction shows us God alone is our only hope and leads us to Him.  No one need wait a moment to receive the salvation Jesus Christ provides today for all who trust in Him, and having received so great a salvation we wait on Him patiently.