Giving Thanks To The Lord

November 22, 2012 at 5:15 am 1 comment

On this Thanksgiving Day, it is important to take some time and reflect not only on what we are thankful for, but on whom we are thankful to. As Christians, we give thanks to the Lord, for apart from Him and His grace, we would be left destitute. As James reminds us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17). Our heavenly Father provides us with not just some of the things we have, but with all of the things we have. He gives us “every good and perfect gift.”

In an age where Thanksgiving Day is sometimes reduced to little more than a general and foggy sentiment of thankfulness, Abraham Lincoln, in his Thanksgiving Day proclamation of 1863, offers this helpful reflection on whom we should be thankful to:

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…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.[1]

May we heed Lincoln’s warning and never be “prone to forget the source from which [our blessings] come.” May we always remember and rejoice that our blessings come from God Almighty.

“Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever” (Psalm 107:1).

[1] Abraham Lincoln, “Proclamation of Thanksgiving” (October 3, 1863).