It was October 3, 1863, just over one hundred forty-six years ago, and our nation was in the throes of civil hostilities that threatened to destroy the union. The war between the northern and southern states was so devastating and its wounds so deep that the cultural scars are evident even to this day. The four years of armed conflict (and the decades of mostly-unarmed suspicion that followed) were certainly among the saddest days of our history.
Even as the nation was mired in the depths of this national tribulation, President Lincoln issued a proclamation calling for a nation-wide day of Thanksgiving. Although he acknowledged the suffering of the Civil War, and even saw it as a means of God’s judgment on our national sins, Lincoln believed that God’s gracious blessings were so great they demanded a national response of humility and gratitude.
Here is a portion of his proclamation:
“No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, Who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy . . . and . . . should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged . . . by the whole American People. I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States . . .. to observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions [i.e., praises] justly due to Him . . . they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, . . . fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation.”
Lincoln understood that national blessings require national thanks. He also knew that national sins demand national repentance. Would to God that our leaders today were more like him!
What our greatest President envisioned for Thanksgiving Day was something quite apart from turkey and football. He called us to devote ourselves especially on that day to heart-felt worship and humble repentance. The focus of the day, as Lincoln originally designed it, is not supposed to be food, but gratitude; not pumpkin pie, but penitence.
I wonder if you have the heart – or the stomach – to delay the feast for even half an hour on Thanksgiving, and set aside some time for prayer. Before you call to the clan, ”Come and get it,” would you ask them to stop and pray?
Will you plan some time into the day for actually giving thanks? Will God be the center of your attention, or will it be the NFL?
Let me put it another way. If Abraham Lincoln were at your house tomorrow, would he recognize your celebration as the day he set apart?
Of course, Honest Abe won’t be at your house on November 26. So, why be bothered?
However, God will be there. Won’t He?
Pastor John Roberts
First Baptist Church
Sterling, Colorado |
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