Skip to main content

A Week of Thanksgiving

It's Thanksgiving Week - a celebration without gifts to give, tinsel, or jingles.  It's a time to reflect on how grateful we can be because of the good that has happened...even when we're struggling in life's circumstances.
Here's Psalm 107...look at the times he says "give thanks", and the circumstances that surround them.


1Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.
2Let the redeemed of the Lord tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe,
3those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south.
4Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle.
5They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away.
6Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.
7He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle.
8Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for humankind,
9for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.
10Some sat in darkness, in utter darkness, prisoners suffering in iron chains,
11because they rebelled against God’s commands and despised the plans of the Most High.
12So he subjected them to bitter labor; they stumbled, and there was no one to help.
13Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
14He brought them out of darkness, the utter darkness, and broke away their chains.
15Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for humankind,
16for he breaks down gates of bronze and cuts through bars of iron.
17Some became fools through their rebellious ways and suffered affliction because of their iniquities.
18They loathed all food and drew near the gates of death.
19Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them from their distress.
20He sent out his word and healed them; he rescued them from the grave.
21Let them give thanks to the Lord for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for humankind.
22Let them sacrifice thank offerings and tell of his works with songs of joy.

We give thanks, not because all things are right and just, but because in all things, God is still there, and our lives are better with Him than on its own without him.

It's a week of Thanksgiving....

Peace

Comments

Paul said…
E, I will comment with a question as Jesus did sometimes. What would the world be like if everyone believed your last two statements?
November 19, 2012 at 10:06 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Wednesday, Day 25: Christmas Eve - God Loves Us (So We Can Relax)

For Kids: There’s a lot of things we have to do each day. Get up from our sleep, Get dressed, Eat Breakfast, Get ready for School, Listen to the teacher, play with friends, eat our lunch, and after it’s all done, go back home. There’s time to play, Then we eat our supper… And eventually we have to get ready for bed and go to sleep! And then we do it all over again the next day. Sometimes there’s a vacation - like right now - and we get more time to play, to have fun and not have to do work at school. Our parents are good at helping us know what time it is and what we need to do next – even when we don’t want to move on to the next thing.  God is also good at helping us know what time it is, and what is next.  He doesn’t shout at us, or yell, or even scream…he does it peacefully, quietly.  He wants us to understand that he does it, most of all, for us. Christmas can be quite busy and there’s lots of things going on at once…but l...
Post a Comment
Read more

Joy to the World - Help is On the Way

It’s the first day of Advent– while you prepare for Worship this morning at church take a minute to ask God to direct you through this season that you might be prepared to “receive your King”. In the first week of Advent we celebrate the PROMISE of His Coming. His promise is based on our need. We were made in his image, but there is emptiness in our soul that is the result of the Fallen nature of sin. But why did Jesus come? What in his coming announces God's heart? His desire for us to know and experience? 10 BUT THE ANGEL SAID TO THEM, "DO NOT BE AFRAID; FOR BEHOLD, I BRING YOU GOOD NEWS OF GREAT JOY WHICH WILL BE FOR ALL THE PEOPLE; 11 FOR TODAY IN THE CITY OF DAVID THERE HAS BEEN BORN FOR YOU A SAVIOR, WHO IS CHRIST THE LORD. GREAT JOY! Did you know that God is Joyful? 1 CHRONICLES 16:23-27 (NASB) 23 SING TO THE LORD, ALL THE EARTH; PROCLAIM GOOD TIDINGS OF HIS SALVATION FROM DAY TO DAY. 24 TELL OF HIS GLORY AMONG THE NATIONS, HIS WONDERFUL DEEDS AMONG ALL THE PEOPLES....
46 comments
Read more

Wondering Out Under the Stars

A Reading: Colossians 1:9-20 (NIV) 9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether th...
28 comments
Read more