Why we should live in a spirit of thanksgiving all the time, instead of just on Thanksgiving Day.

1 Chr 16:8  Give thanks unto the LORD, call upon his name, make known his deeds among the people.

Psalm 30:4  Sing unto the LORD, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

Psalm 30:12  To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.

Psalm 79:13  So we thy people and sheep of thy pasture will give thee thanks for ever: we will show forth thy praise to all generations.

Psalm 100:4  Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

1 Cor 15:57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Cor 2:14  Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest the savour of his knowledge by us in every place.

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Col 2: 6  As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:   7  Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.

Col 3: 15  And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17  And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

1 Thess 5: 18  In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

During our annual and traditional Thanksgiving Day festivities, I had much time to reflect on some of the many reasons I am thankful to our Lord.

This year presented some unusual trials, one being that for a period of time, my health had deteriorated to the point that I wondered how much longer God was going to allow me stay on this earth. 

There’s nothing like physical trial to bring one to the point of being cast upon the Lord.

God graciously preserved me through this trial, and yet is still teaching and pruning me because of it.  For that I am thankful.

I am also thankful for my wife and children.  God has wonderfully blessed me with a full quiver of children and a helper who wonderfully enables me to fulfill my God-given purpose.

I am thankful for privilege that I have many times this year of preaching the gospel, and to continually be able to live it out.

And, I am thankful for our Lord Jesus who loved me with an everlasting love, and mercifully chose me to be one of His.

Here are a few pictures of some of the traditions we observe on Thanksgiving Day.

Most years, many contribute various dishes and desserts for this day.  My usual task is to prepare and bake the turkey.  This year, Emily helped me in this effort.

Emily demonstrates how to brush the turkey with butter.

Annie seems amazed at the size of the turkey (this was actually a small turkey for us, only 15 pounds).

Once we gathered around the table, we spent time recounting how and why we were thankful to the Lord during the past year.

Charles Spurgeon on Psalm 119:105 - Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

We are walkers through the city of this world, and we are often called to go out into its darkness; let us never venture there without the light giving word, lest we slip with our feet. Each man should use the word of God personally, practically, and habitually, that he may see his way and see what lies in it. When darkness settles down upon all around me, the word of the Lord, like a flaming torch, reveals my way. Having no fixed lamps in eastern towns, in old time each passenger carried a lantern with him that he might not fall into the open sewer, or stumble over the heaps of ordure which defiled the road. This is a true picture of our path through this dark world: we should not know the way, or how to walk in it, if Scripture, like a blazing flambeau, did not reveal it. One of the most practical benefits of Holy Writ is guidance in the acts of daily life: it is not sent to astound us with its brilliance, but to guide us by its instruction. It is true the head needs illumination, but even more the feet need direction, else head and feet may both fall into a ditch. Happy is the man who personally appropriates God’s word, and practically uses it as his comfort and counsellor, — a lamp to his own feet.

Are you using God’s Word personally, practically, and habitually?

I firmly believe that most of the problems individuals, churches, and nations experience is ultimately due to or conditioned by a lack of or incorrect knowledge of God.  As I mentioned in a sermon last week (located here) , knowledge must be obtained first before understanding and wisdom can be exercised.

I further mentioned that knowledge comes by a love for and meditation in God’s Word. 

Psalm 119:97  O how love I thy law! it is my meditation all the day. 

Knowledge, properly conditioned by biblical understanding and wisdom, helps to develop a comprehensive and accurate view of God, and when believers have this kind of view of God, it is reflected in what they practice.

Here is a quote from George Grant that furthers this idea.

Self-Worship and Modernity’s Mess - by George Grant

We are prone to think of God–when we think of Him at all–as wonderful. We are less likely to see Him as willful. Certainly He is both, but the overwhelming emphasis of Scripture is upon the will rather than the wonder. It is upon the exercise of God’s prerogative rather than the expiation of our pleasure. The difference is probably a matter of slights rather than slanders. Nevertheless, it is a difference that makes for rather dramatic consequences.

Thus, to some of us God is little more than a cosmic vending machine in the sky, designed to dispense our every want and whim. To others of us He is a grandfatherly sage who lives to patiently offer us certain therapeutic benefits and baubles from His largess. To still others He is a kind of Santa figure–jolly, unflappable, and determined to bestow goodies upon incognizant masses. Invariably though, we moderns tend to see God in terms of ourselves–in terms of our wants, our needs, our preferences, and our desires. We have apparently, as Voltaire accused, “made God in our own image.”

But, according to psychologist Paul Vitz, such a conception is not knowledge of God at all, but a form of “self-worship.” According to J.C. Ryle, it is “the cruelest of all delusions” because “by it men think they have come to a knowledge God when in fact they have done nothing of the sort.” Thus, Joseph Aulen has argued that “the vast proportion of modern Christians have a vastly mistaken knowledge of the person and work of the Almighty.”

Thus, according to D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, “because men do not know God or the nature of God–particularly those who claim to be Christians–all of the problems of life and culture are amplified even more.” Andrew Murray asserts that it is due to the fact that Christians do not “properly entertain a knowledge of God” that “societies fall into such disarray as we have in the modern world.” And A.W. Tozer has said that “a lack of a true knowledge of God’s attributes and character” is the “root of the indecisiveness, imbalance, and ineffectiveness” of the contemporary church.”

Annie and Kimmy tackle the playground slide.

On a recent family outing the next generation pauses for a picture.

Last weekend I took the family up to Lake Texoma, where Matthew and I had just spent a few days camping.  The major activity was a hike along the rugged coast of the lake.  On this hike the instructions were to get exercise, note the beauty of God’s creation, and look for fossils. 

The crew is ready to go.

We spotted a fossil along the way.

Photographer at work.

More fossils.

And another.

Lunch break.

OK, my stomach is full, the day is warm, and I’m ready for a nap.

Back on the hike, noted Aborist Kimmy Joy contemplates the unusual growing angle of a tree.

A spider’s web is spotted on the forest floor.

Getting the perfect picture.

We spotted some beautiful autumn leaves.

A fallen, moss-covered tree.

An important benefit of activities like this one is that it is great for family fellowship and learning to work together.

I did not stick around to see what would happen when they hit rougher water, but I kind of wished I would have. 

With this camping experience, Matthew and I had the opportunity to engage in two enjoyable activities:  fossil hunting and canoeing.

Here’s a picture of Matthew in the front of our canoe.  This was his first time in a canoe.

Checking out some of large boats docked.  Some were actually yacht size.

Much of our time was spent fossil hunting.  While we came back with quite a few samples, many fossils that we found were too large to extract from the surrounding rock, so we took some pictures of them instead.

As you can see, large deposits of rock (limestone and sandstone among other types) abound, especially near the lake.

Matthew checks out a find.

This is a rock full of shells.

I’m not sure what this is.

Probably an ammonite.

A piece of petrified wood in the middle of a rock. 

Another ammonite.

And another.

One particular fossil I did not take a picture of (but we were able to retrieve and take home) is of some creature with a fossilized backbone and ribs.  Check Matthew’s blog for a future post and picture.

A shellfish of some sort.

Fossils make a fascinating study.  Unlike what much of the world believes, we know that the fossil record is evidence of the judgment of God on a wicked world, and ought to help remind us not to repeat those sins.