We praise our God with thankfulness … because he is the Source of all good
On this Thanksgiving Eve, I don’t mean to dismiss what the early pilgrims did at Plymouth after a good harvest. Nor do I intend to disregard which US President declared the official date after some variation. But that is of historical or national importance. I will let to your own scholarly research on wikipedia.org for the pertinent details.
Instead, it is good for us to consider the personal and congregational significance of this holiday since it doesn’t fall on the church calendar like Christmas or Easter or Pentecost.
It is valuable that Thanksgiving falls near the end of November. We have had almost 11 months to see and celebrate how the Lord has been with us and has blessed us. And he has—in different ways and at distinct times. It is useful to carve out some moments to reflect on that in the coming days—in between the scarfing of food and shopping for presents.
It was just about the close of his life that David stood before his people (1 Chron 29:10). With the eyes of all on him, he burst out in praise of the Lord with a wonderful prayer.
It was not something spontaneous. It was scripted. We need to reconstruct the setting. Recall how God had said “no” to David’s building project. (It may be hard to believe, but earthly fathers struggle with that word. Our heavenly Father doesn’t.) David had wanted to put up a house of worship for God. David was residing in a lovely palace of cedar while the Lord’s ark was resting behind the curtains of a tent. That seemed a bit out of place or out of proportion.
Despite David’s good intentions, God declined. But he determined to something better. God relayed his construction goals. David would not build the Lord a house, but the Lord would build David a house (1 Chron 17:4,10-14). That is a play on words. David was thinking of a dwelling place. God was referring to a perpetual dynasty. Solomon was the partial fulfillment. Jesus was the final person (Lk 1:32,33). When David heard from Nathan the pledge that the Savior would come from his line, he did not throw a royal temper tantrum. He rejoiced.
Solomon would soon succeed David on the throne of Israel. This man of peace would erect the temple (1 Chron 29:1). David spent the rest of his life helping his son to carry out that enormous task. He pledged his own personal fortune—to the tune of “three thousand talents of gold [that is, 110 tons] … and seven thousand talents of refined silver” [that is, 260 tons] (1 Chron 29:4). That is no small change. And that is leading by example. And then David encouraged the heads of Israel to join in the freewill offering. When they responded in an overwhelming fashion, David poured out his heart to the Lord, thanking God for his goodness and his greatness, the One who is changeless in his love and timeless in his nature.
He begins: “Praise be to you, O LORD … from everlasting to everlasting” (1 Chron 29:10). And he is not just the LORD, but “God of our father Israel” (1 Chron 29:10). The One who has all power had promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that the Messiah would be from them.
We know that God has kept his word. The Christ has come. We join David speaking words of the excellence of the Lord, who is eternal—no beginning and no end. He has guarded us in the past, he guides us in the present, and guarantees our home in the future. We praise our God with thankfulness for he is good.
But before David gets to the “what” of thanksgiving, he goes on with the “who” of thanksgiving with five terms. “Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor” (1 Chron 29:11). He heaps up a number of terms as if he is consulting a thesaurus for synonyms. The Lord is deserving of that high status ascribed to him. Think of Israel’s history—from selecting them as his own to saving them from Egypt. When we think of our own record, it is no wonder that we echo those thoughts often when we say the Lord’s Prayer: “For the kingdom, the power and the glory are yours now and forever. Amen” (CW p. 20).
And then David passes along the critical reminder: “for everything in heaven and earth is yours” (1 Chron 29:11). The temptation is to put the word “my” in front of things—my family and fortune, my car and computer, my money and minutes. Those are just some of the good and perfect gifts that come down from our heavenly Father (Ja 1:17). He holds all things and hands some to us to use and not abuse. We are dependent on him for everything. As the hymn writer puts it (and many of us sang growing up): “We give thee but thine own, whate’er the gift may be; all that we have is thine alone, a trust, O Lord, from thee” (CW 485:1).
David moves from God’s glory to God’s grace: “Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all” (1 Chron 29:11). That is not a real estate on a map, but his everlasting rule in our hearts with his Word and sacraments. He demands and deserves the first place in our hearts as he controls and commands all things for our good (Ro 8:28). God has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his Son through whom we have the forgiveness of all of our sins (Col 1:13,14). We praise our God with thankfulness for he is good.
David continues as he comments on how the Lord deals with people. “Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all” (1 Chron 29:12). What we achieve comes from his hand—not just our hard work. What we accomplish is from his hand—not just our wise head. Moses had warned the Children of Israel before they entered the Promised Land not to forget the Lord. “You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (Dt 8:17,18). We don’t look inward—to ourselves, but outward—to our God. He offers us the status of being his children and the skill to earn a living, serving him who is over us and those who are around us. We boast in the Lord (1 Co 1:31). To him be the glory!
We praise our God with thankfulness because he is the Source of all good. Happy Thanksgiving.
We read from 1 Chronicles 29:10-12:
10 David praised the LORD in the presence of the whole assembly, saying, “Praise be to you, O LORD, God of our father Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. 11 Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the majesty and the splendor, for everything in heaven and earth is yours. Yours, O LORD, is the kingdom; you are exalted as head over all. 12 Wealth and honor come from you; you are the ruler of all things. In your hands are strength and power to exalt and give strength to all.
We praise our God with thankfulness … because he is the Center of all gratitude
I don’t know what was on the table of the pilgrims or presidents of days gone by. Again, that is what google is for. You more than likely have an idea of what you are going to prepare for tomorrow. There are the side dishes—from candied yams to mashed potatoes, from cranberry sauce to pumpkin pie. (I didn’t mean to make your mouth water, especially if you have not had supper, or make you panic if you haven’t even started thinking about it.) But the highlight of the day is probably turkey whether it is fried in oil or roasted in the oven.
The highpoint of our thanksgiving is our God. David draws our attention to that. “Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name” (1 Chron 29:13). It is worthwhile to note whose God he is—your God, my God, our God. He belongs to us as we to him. We acknowledge it and appreciate it. We praise our God with our own “hallelujah.” The Lord has given us his splendid name—to bless us (Nu 6:22-27) and to save us (Acts 4:12).
There is one more page on the calendar of this year. Already tonight we can look ahead to Christmas. We will again go to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus whose name signifies “Savior.” As the angel instructed Joseph, “You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Mt 1:21). And Jesus did just that as he lived perfectly in our place, doing what we couldn’t, and died willingly on the cross, delivering us from Satan. To God be the glory!
We praise our God with thankfulness because he is the Center of all gratitude. Happy Thanksgiving.
We read from 1 Chronicles 29:13:
13 Now, our God, we give you thanks, and praise your glorious name.
November 22, 2017
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