A Song of Thanksgiving

A Song of Thanksgiving
John R. Petrilli

Christian hymnody is replete with songs of praise and thanksgiving. One of my fondest Thanksgiving memories is a holiday I shared with the family of a classmate from Bible School. Instead of the customary after-dinner football game, this Christian family gathered around the piano and sang a series of favorite harvest hymns. It was a very enjoyable and uplifting experience. We sang “Harvest Home”, “Now Thank We All Our God” and many other great songs of thanksgiving.

Singing songs of thanksgiving to God by no means originates with the American experience. For centuries, cultures around the world have celebrated as they hauled in the precious, life-sustaining fruits of their crops. In fact, in Psalm 65 we have the record of a harvest hymn that dates back literally thousands of years. A close look at how the people of Israel celebrated their time of harvest provides us with some keys to making our Thanksgiving an unforgettable celebration of the goodness and greatness of our God.

LET’S SING SONGS OF THANKSGIVING TO OUR PRAYER ANSWERING GOD. 1-2

“Oh You Who hear prayer, to You all men shall come.”

Of the many things David was, he was most prominently a man of prayer. The Psalms he authored reveal a heart that diligently sought God’s face and boldly requested great things from the Lord. David’s life breathed prayer, practicing it at least three times throughout the span of a day (Psa. 55:17). This King of Israel prayed with utmost confidence in God’s ability and willingness to not only hear his request, but to grant it according to His perfect will (Psa. 5:3). That confidence proved to be well-placed as he received answer after answer from his Lord (Psalm 118:5). What instances of answered prayer can you recall this past year? Why not make a list and turn it into a song of thanksgiving to be sung around your Thanksgiving table?

LET’S SING SONGS OF THANKSGIVING TO OUR SIN FORGIVING GOD. 3

“When we were overwhelmed by sins, You forgave our transgressions!”

Amazing at it may seem, the character quality of forgiveness is glaringly lacking in the ‘gods’ of non-Christian religions. Those ‘gods’ are vengeful, impersonal, detached, unreachable, or capricious. Only Christianity and Judaism portray a God Who knows how to forgive, and actually wants to extend this grace to His fallen creatures. When David says that God forgave him when he was overwhelmed by his sins, he knows that of which he speaks. This is the same David who stole a man’s wife in adultery, then had the audacity to eliminate the husband and marry the recently widowed adulterous partner! Just how ‘overwhelmed’ was David? At first not much. But as time went on he became increasingly troubled by his heinous actions. In Psalm 51 we see him depressed (8), guilty (14), and broken (17). In Psalm 32 David’s pitiful existence included unbearable stress, sleepless nights, loss of stamina, and drowning in a sea of personal misery. Psalm 38 shows a man totally overwhelmed by sadness, sickness, weakness, emptiness, and friendlessness. But all of that disappeared the very second he confessed and repented of his sins against the Lord (Psa. 32:5; 2 Sam. 12:13). We too can know this same blessing of forgiveness from God as we confess our sins to Him (1 John 1:9). Freedom from sin’s guilt can be ours; it’s only a prayer of repentance away! And best of all, there’s no ‘threshold’ of forgiveness, no limit to how many times God will forgive us if we deal sincerely and decisively with those things that have marred our fellowship with Him … Hallelujah!!

LET’S SING SONGS OF THANKSGIVING TO OUR GRACIOUSLY HOSPITABLE GOD. 4

“Blessed are those You choose and bring near to live in Your courts! We are filled with the good things of Your house, of Your holy temple.”

Homelessness is approaching epidemic proportions in America. Over 3.5 million Americans live on the streets and a whopping 36 million are only one paycheck away from joining this desperate population. Tens of thousands have lost jobs, homes, and even their families, falling through the cultural cracks and landing in the streets of our cities. This is a tragedy of huge proportions. What these unfortunates would give to be welcomed into a home filled with the good things of Thanksgiving … the warmth of human kindness, the love of family and friends, the joy of fellowship. Many have been blessed by the loving outreach of the many city missions that provide a Thanksgiving meal with all the traditional trimmings, and served by the loving, friendly hands of those freely volunteering their time on a busy holiday. God bless them, every one!

While physical homelessness can and does happen, no such state exists in the spiritual realm of the family of God. The Lord is always seen extending His hand of invitation to us to enter into His presence and House. David declares that he had found life, joy and endless pleasure in the presence of God (Psa. 16:11). The Lord’s goodness and mercy became evident to David as he spent time worshipping and fellowshipping among His people in the temple (Psa. 23:6). One of God’s favorite words is “Come”. He’s constantly inviting us over to His place to share a meal, engage in conversation, and enjoy one another’s company … not unlike the hospitality of a great, lifelong friend or loving relative. Jesus picks up on this same theme, inviting all who would to “come” to God for relief from the burdens of daily life that they bear (Matt. 11:28). Even at the end of the Bible we see God reaching out to us in the third Person of the Holy Spirit, Who says, “Come” (Rev. 22:17). As we reflect on the year gone by, we surely have a lot to thank God for as we consider all the wonderful times of hospitality and fellowship we’ve had in His house with Him and His people.

LET’S SING SONGS OF THANKSGIVING TO OUR WONDER WORKING GOD. 5-8

“You answer us with awesome deeds … Who formed the mountains by Your power … Who stilled the roaring of the seas … [Who stilled] the turmoil of the nations. Those living far away fear Your wonders.”

I recall building a volcanic mountain for my ninth grade science class, but that doesn’t even come close to a single cliff created by God! I had the opportunity to swim in a “wave pool” in Illinois, where a mechanism causes the surface to roll into high waves across the length of the pool. But compared to the waves of the sea, this isn’t even a trickle! I’ve known the peace of a reconciled friendship, but as important as that may be, it pales in comparison to ending world wars among the nations of the earth! God makes mountains, calms seas, and ends international conflicts. These are wonder-working acts that can only be achieved by a wonder-working God! The Father showed His wonderful side to His people Israel in the wilderness (Acts 7:36). Isaiah called Jesus the “Wonderful Counselor”, and rightfully so. When on earth in a human body, Jesus repeatedly left His audience awestruck with wonder (Luke 4:36-37). The Holy Spirit continued to display God’s wonder-working power through the apostles as they worked wonder after wonder in the days of the infant Church (Acts 2:43; 5:12; 14:3; 15:12).

But the greatest wonder God ever works is that of transforming the human heart. He takes a sinful, rebellious, hopeless, hell-bound lives and remakes them into something beautiful. Paul likens this transformation to the process of metamorphosis, the biological process responsible for a caterpillar becoming a butterfly and a tadpole becoming a bullfrog (2 Cor. 5:17). The change involved in spiritual regeneration likewise is dramatic, complete and permanent. If you’ve been the recipient of God’s wonder-working, saving and transforming power, why not take a moment out (right now?) and thank Him from the depths of your redeemed heart?

LET’S SING SONGS OF THANKSGIVING TO OUR GENEROUSLY GIVING GOD. 9-13

“You enrich the land and water abundantly … [You] provide the people with grain … You crown the year with Your bounty … Your carts overflow … the grasslands overflow … the meadows are covered with flocks … the valleys are mantled with grain.”

I fear that we who have little to do with the raising of crops and the milking of cows often take our food for granted. We just cruise through the grocery store aisles oblivious to all that was involved in getting to market what we see on the shelves. It’s hard for us to make the connection between the product and the effort expended to get it to our tables. We simply buy them, bag them, and consume them. I wonder how different our gratitude level might be if we spent a month or two working on a farm. I’d venture to guess that we’d see things a whole lot differently. The grain farmer KNOWS that God sent the rain he prayed for. The dairy farmer UNDERSTANDS that all his efforts are in vain apart from God keeping his herd healthy. We should be genuinely grateful for something as simple as food because, at the end of the day, it is a gift from the hand of our loving and generous Creator.

Here David pictures a harvest landscape that graphically depicts the abundance which God showers upon His people. He carefully maintains the ecosystems that support both plant and animal life. God insures that seeds become plants, and plants become grain. As the “Master Meteorologist” He measures out just the right amount of sunshine and precipitation to guarantee an abundant harvest. Contrast this abundance with the stark poverty of many nations who have chosen to worship other gods. “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord” (Psa. 33:12). Thanks to the reverence of our forefathers, we’ve enjoyed over two centuries of economic prosperity here in America. While America’s moral drift leaves us with an uncertain future, we can still be thankful for the multitudinous blessings we’ve each received in our lifetime. Happy Thanksgiving from all of us at the Good News Paper to all of you! J J