The Pilgrims’ landing at Plymouth, Massachusetts on Dec. 21, 1620 was anything but a heartening experience. True, they had reached their long-awaited destination, but privation, illness, and hunger were awaiting their arrival. Their first winter in the new world looked as though it might be their last. Of the 100 Pilgrims who waded ashore in the icy water, barely half survived to see spring. Scurvy and pneumonia exacted a fateful toll upon them. Had it not been for friendly Indians, those Pilgrims who remained may not have made it through the next season. But, instructed by the natives, they planted crops, harvested them, and laid up meager stores against the coming winter. 

     In the fall of 1621, probably in late November, the Pilgrims set aside time for a thanksgiving harvest festival as a time to give thanks for rain, crops, and other manifestations of God’s goodness and mercy. The festival was celebrated around tables laden with Indian corn, barley, cod, bass, waterfowl and five deer contributed by their special guests, the Indians. Obviously the people had a lot of privation and suffering and loss to complain about, not to mention the uncertainty of what lay ahead for them; but, they had found what they were looking for–a land where they had freedom to worship God. Their giving thanks wasn’t just for the material blessings of harvest and their new Indian friends and their help, but for the freedom they had in this new land to openly follow and worship their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, God’s “indescribable gift” (II Cor. 9:15). 

      Fast forward a little more than 400 years to our current “Thanksgiving” celebrations.  For millions, Thanksgiving is no more than traveling to visit family, eating way too much and then fighting over who has to clean up and who gets to sit and watch athletes who make astronomical salaries chase each other up and down a field fighting over a $75 ball. The center of life of our cities was once our churches and municipal buildings or cultural centers.  Now it is huge multi-million dollar sports complexes and shopping malls. Thanksgiving weekend becomes a frenzied shopping extravaganza–a launching pad for Christmas gift buying. Or, in our “neck of the woods,” there is a last ditch effort to get that big buck or bull, as it is normally the final week of rifle season!    There is little focus by most on gratefulness for our multitude of blessings from a gracious, merciful God. 

      We seem to be saying “Thank you,” less often these days, and it’s not a good sign. The “ingratitude attitude” that pervades our society is not simply that we are not as polite and well-mannered as we once were, but it may be a symptom of something far more disturbing: evidence of a nation in trouble. A biblical review of the national life of Israel provides abundant proof of just how costly a lack of thankfulness can be. Inherent in every festive occasion for the Jewish people was a specific element of thanksgiving. It seems that everything that was wrong grew out of the failure to be thankful. But the root cause of the ingratitude was a departure from following the one true God and failure to acknowledge Him as the One who bestows on us “every perfect gift” (Jas 1:17), the One who “richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (I Tim. 6:17). 

     So, ingratitude is a symptom of a deeper spiritual problem.  The Apostle Paul writes in his letter to the church at Rome: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness…for even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God, or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools…Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, that their bodies might be dishonored among them. For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen” (Ro. 1:18-25). Ungratefulness is a symptom of suppressing the truth about who God is and what He has done and does for us. 

     Thanksgiving is a mark of spiritual maturity. Its presence springs from a biblical worldview. It is a declaration of dependence upon God and an acknowledgement that He alone is our Provider and Protector. Thanksgiving is really an expression of faith, a response to the promises of God for provision and protection and it unleashes the power of God in and through us. Thanksgiving is the only sensible response to the character of God who never changes, who is good–all the time. 

     Giving thanks isn’t just for Pilgrims–it’s for each one of us. Don’t spend your life standing at the “complaint counter.” Count your many blessings!  Have an attitude of gratitude. “Praise God from whom all blessings flow!”    Practice “Thanks-living!”

Forever Thankful,

Pastor Dave N