Honoring God at Thanksgiving
Most people think that holidays are given to us by the government. I don’t know, maybe because the government appreciates us so much, they wanted to do something special for us. Yeah, right. The truth is holidays are God’s idea. The very word “holiday” is a contraction of the words “Holy Day.”
Throughout the Old Testament, God ordained and instituted Feast Days. On these feast days, God wanted His people to remember specific things He had done for them. He also wanted His people to honor and praise Him. But you know, these days were also giving for the benefit of His people. God knows that people very often need to take a day off. They need to take a break and change their routine.
Of today’s holidays, Thanksgiving is my favorite. The world of merchandising has not found a way to pervert it. On most other Holidays, the world has figured out how to get your money. At Easter, you have to buy a new set of clothes. On the Fourth of July, everybody goes on vacation. At Halloween, people spend money on costumes and candy. At Christmas, we break the bank buying gifts. And for many people holidays are not enjoyed they are just endured.
But Thanksgiving is the forgotten holiday. The merchants go straight from witches and goblins to Santa Claus and elves. That in itself is something to be thankful for. On Thanksgiving, we gather our families together. We share a meal and thank God for His blessings and goodness.
Think about what God has done for you. A lot of people go through life trying to get things that they think they deserve. Myself, I am thankful that God has not given me what I deserve. Instead, He Has given me so much that I do not deserve
Holidays are given to us to remind us of all that we have to be thankful for. And we have so much to be thankful for. But most of all, we have our Savior. God did not have to give His Son for us, but He did. He did not have to give His loving kindness, nor His mercy and His grace, but He did. He has rescued us from that eternal death that we deserve. He gives us eternal life that we do not deserve.
Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have ordained strength, Because of Your enemies, That You may silence the enemy and the avenger.
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.
You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet, All sheep and oxen— Even the beasts of the field, The birds of the air, And the fish of the sea That pass through the paths of the seas. O Lord, our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth!”
Psalms 8:1-9 NKJV
https://bible.com/bible/114/psa.8.1-9.NKJV
Douglas & Deborah Huff
From Down Where the Pavement Ends
email-pavementendsministry@gmail.com
a very important reminder God is the giver all good gifts and holidays .