Thankful for the Opportunity to Be Thankful

This being Thanksgiving Day, if you’ve surfaced long enough from eating turkey, watching holiday parades, or enjoying a traditional football game on TV long enough to read this, let me say I’m thankful for that. And I hope that you, like me, can identify much for which to give thanks. 

We typically voice our thankfulness for things like family, health, a home, a means for earning a livelihood, material possessions, and whatever makes us feel happy. If you or someone in your family has suffered from a serious illness or disease, you know the simple gift of another day is more than enough cause for thankfulness. 

 

The important question is, to whom are we thankful? The universe or the cosmos? Lady Luck? Our own determined efforts, or the kindness of others? We certainly are entitled to feel pleased with the fruits of our labors? Many of us wouldn’t be where we are today without the help and encouragement of key individuals in our lives. But isn’t this the time to, as the old hymn states, “Praise God from whom all blessings flow?”

 

Since you have many better things to do this day than just reading through the meanderings of a pensive blogger/columnist, let me simply cite a couple of passages from the Scriptures that remind us of where our greatest thankfulness should focus.

 

The first is Psalm 100, which in just five verses can point our expressions of thanksgiving in the right direction:

“Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:1-5).

 

Other fitting passages to consider for our Thanksgiving Day musings are found in Psalm 107. It starts with these words: “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say this – those He has redeemed from the hand of the foe, those He gathered from the lands, from east to west, from north and south” (Psalm 107:1-3).

 

After recounting some of God’s acts of mercy and provision for the Israelites, the psalmist continues, “Let them give thanks to the Lord for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for men. Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of His works with songs of joy” (Psalm 107:21-22).

While we are pausing to reflect on and give thanks for our blessings – loved ones, our “stuff,” and another day of life as another year winds to a close – it would be wise to also offer thanks to God whom Revelation 4:8 describes as, “the Lord God Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come.” Happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving Prayers That Are Powerful and Effective

I’m not sure where or when I saw it, but I vaguely recall a movie scene in which some not particularly religious character was asked to pray over the meal. After awkwardly folding his hands and bowing his head, he uttered, “Good food, good meat, good God, let’s eat!” Not the most eloquent expression of thanksgiving!

Then I think of persons asked to pray at public gatherings who reach into a coat pocket, unfold a sheet of paper and proceed to recite a prayer they had composed in advance. There’s nothing wrong with that, I suppose. None of us would want to stumble with our words in such a setting. But I believe the prayers God loves most are those expressed spontaneously, from the heart, without pomp or circumstance, as led by the Holy Spirit.

On the day recognized nationally as Thanksgiving Day, perhaps this is especially significant. In some households, a traditional “saying of grace” before meals is rare. So a show of sudden spirituality might seem daunting. How should we pray? And what should we pray for?

I don’t have a formula – or “recipe,” if you will – for a Thanksgiving Day dinner prayer. But the Scriptures do offer many helpful suggestions. Perhaps one of the best was given by Jesus when He warned against what I’d call “ostentatious religiosity.” In giving examples of persons who liked to parade their piety, He said, 

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men…. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you” (Matthew 6:5-6).

This doesn’t mean if someone asks us to pray for God to bless the food, that we should retreat to a room, close the door, and then pray. That would defeat the purpose, wouldn’t it? But we don’t need to try to impress anyone listening, either. Jesus continued, “And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him” (Matthew 6:7-8).

What’s most important, I believe, on this Thanksgiving Day, is that before enjoying the food that’s been so lovingly prepared, that we pause to enjoy and praise the One who has so lovingly provided for all that we need. I like what the apostle James said about prayer, words that could be applied even to the simple practice of “saying grace”: “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective” (James 5:16).

Recently I was reminded of how the ancient Israelites sometimes expressed their gratitude in a call-and-answer manner. The worship leader would voice a phrase of thanksgiving, and then the congregation would give a repeating response: 

“Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good...His love endures forever. 

Give thanks to the God of gods...His love endures forever. 

Give thanks to the Lord of lords...His love endures forever” (Psalm 136:1-3).

Maybe it’s because it reminds me of my early church days when we had a responsive reading each Sunday, but that seems like a cool way of giving thanks. Amen!