What does Thanksgiving Day and the nursery rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lamb, have in common? Why do we observe Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of each November? While the idea of a thanksgiving meal dates to the Pilgrims, the national observance of Thanksgiving Day was not established until the height of the Civil War in 1863. The federal holiday came about through the tireless efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale. For thirty-six years she led the campaign for our nation to observe a day of Thanksgiving. Not only is she the author of the beloved nursery rhyme, Mary Had a Little Lamb, but she wrote countless letters to governors, law makers, and even presidents, pitching the idea of Thanksgiving Day.
President Lincoln set aside the last Thursday of November 1863 as a time to look to the Lord and to heal the wounds of a deeply divided nation. President Roosevelt would go on to sign Thanksgiving Day into law on November 26, 1941, just days before the attack on Pearl Harbor. Today, it seems as though consumerism has pushed to the side any gratitude we have as a people. Rather than being a nation that pauses to count our blessings and honors the Lord, we instead look forward to the mad dash of Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
We would do well to readjust our focus using the lens of Scripture. Psalm 136:1 instructs us, “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.” The Lord is not worthy of thanksgiving simply because He does good things for us. No! He is worthy of thanksgiving because His nature is good. If I worship God only because He does good things for me, what then happens when I go through seasons where it does not feel as though God is good? For the mature believer, we honor the Lord not because of what He does, but because of Who He is. Because His nature is good, the outflow is that His steadfast love endures forever. In other words, His love for us is never in question. It is both steadfast and eternal.
Sign Up For Pastor Chad’s Weekly Newsletter by clicking here!
You must be logged in to post a comment.