Thanksgiving Day
November 21, 2012
Dear friends in Christ.
Ever since Thanksgiving became a holiday, many
families have had the practice of taking time to think about and remember
things that happened during the past year—things for which they are truly
thankful. Sometimes the things they
remember are recent events in their lives, while other times the things they
remember are things that happened a lot earlier during the past year. Well, in the same way that we often take time
to remember the things for which we are thankful on Thanksgiving, as Christians
there are often times that we look back over our lives and remember the things
that the Lord our God has done for us.
Though there are times that the difficulties of life sometimes cause us
to forget our God’s faithfulness, so often when we look back we remember how
the Lord has led us through our lives and how he has delivered us from
troubles. So often we remember the
blessings he has given, the victories he won for us and the encouragements he
has bestowed upon us in our lives. So
often, when we take time to remember the Lord our God, we are reminded of the
great things that he continues to do for us.
The same was true for Moses and the Israelites. For as we meet them, Israel is camped on the
East Side of the Jordan River preparing to enter the Promised Land of Canaan
for a second time. The first time they
were here, preparing to enter the Land, they sent Joshua, Caleb and 10 other
spies into the land to scout it out.
When they returned, they reported that the land did indeed flow with
milk and honey, but the people who live there are powerful and their cities are
fortified and very large. When the
Israelites heard this, they did what they normally did in a time of
crisis. Instead of remembering the Lord
and trusting him to deliver them, they began to doubt the Lord’s promise and
grumble and complain. Joshua and Caleb tried to encourage the people to, “go up
and take possession of the land, which the Lord has given us.” But the other ten spies went and stirred up
the people so that they began to grumble against Moses and Aaron. They even
elected a leader who would lead them back to the land of Egypt. Because the
people turned away from the Lord and sinned by not following his will, he made
them wander in the wilderness for forty years.
One year for every day the spies had spent exploring the land.
Now that the forty years of wandering were over and
a new generation of Israelites was getting ready to cross the Jordan and enter
the land of Canaan. But before they
entered, Moses calls on them to remember the Lord their God, he says: When you
have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has
given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to
observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.
12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and
settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and
gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become
proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out
of the land of slavery." (Deuteronomy 8:10–14, NIV84)
With these words, Moses was calling on the people to
remember the Lord their God because of his many blessings. He was calling on them to remember how the
Lord had blessed them as they wandered through the wilderness with manna and
quail. They always had water when they
needed it and their clothes did not wear out during all those forty years. Now the Lord is about to bless them again by
leading them into the Promised Land of Canaan.
This was a land that Moses described as: “a good land–a land with
streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a
land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and
honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land
where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills,” (Deuteronomy
8:7b-9).
This is why Moses exhorts them not to remember the
Lord who blesses you, because when they settled down in this land of plenty and
their flocks and riches increased, it would be easy for them to forget the
Lord. The same is true for you and me, and that is why Moses is reminding us to
remember the Lord our God today. He is
reminding us to remember the Lord our God who has blessed us in so many
ways. Here we are living in one of the
greatest countries in the world. We have
some of the most fertile farming land in the world. We have running water; electricity that is
seldom interrupted and there hasn’t been a shortage of gas since the 1970’s.
Our God has truly blessed us and our nation of plenty. That is why we have gathered here today. We have gathered to remember our Lord who has
blessed us and thank him for all his blessings.
We thank him for our nation of plenty.
We thank him for our friends and family.
We thank him for blessing us through in the past and years to come. But most important of all, we thank him for
the blessing of our Savior who came to earth to free us from our sins. Jesus death
was our death and his resurrection assures our resurrection. He is the greatest blessing we have ever
received. Yes, our Lord has indeed
blessed us and that is why we have gathered here, to remember our Lord. But that is not the only reason we remember
the Lord today, we also remember him because he keeps his promises.
When we take a look at our history, we are able to
see just how true it is that God keeps his promises. The same was true for Israel, for as they
stood by the banks of the Jordan River preparing to cross over, Moses was
reminded them how the Lord kept his promises to them. He says, “[The Lord] led you through the vast
and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes
and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to
eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to
test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to
yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for
me.” 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability
to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your
forefathers, as it is today." (Deuteronomy 8:15–18, NIV84)
As Moses spoke these words, he was reminding them of
how the Lord had kept all the promises that he had made to his people
Israel. Even now, as they stood on the
border of Canaan, preparing to enter and take possession of the Promised Land
Moses is calling on the people to remember the Lord their God. He is calling on them to remember the Lord
their God as they crossed the river and took possession of the land. He is calling on them to remember the Lord
their God as they built up their homes and cities and businesses. He is calling on them to remember the Lord
their God as they became a new nation, as their flocks increased, and as their
wealth began to grow. Even in all this,
Moses was calling on the Israelites to remain humble in their faith,
remembering that it was the Lord their God who had given them all that they
had.
Moses is saying the same thing to you and me
today. He is calling on us to remember
the Lord our God who keeps his promises.
He is calling on us to remember the Lord our God who has blessed us with
everything we have. He is calling on us
to remember all his grace and blessing that he bestowed upon us through the
death and resurrection of his Son, through which we have received the
forgiveness of sins, and the promise of eternal life.
So, as you gather with friends and family to
celebrate Thanksgiving this week, or simply celebrate quietly by yourselves,
continue to remember all that the Lord your God has done for you. Remember how the Lord has led you through
your life and brought you to this point.
Remember how he has delivered you from countless troubles. Remember the blessings the Lord has bestowed
upon you, the encouragements he has given through numerous people, and the
victories he has won for you. Remember
the joy that the Lord has planted in your hearts through the forgiveness of
sins and grow in your faith and trust in the Lord you God, about whom it can be
truly said, “Not one of his promises has ever failed.”
Amen.
Pastor
David M. Shilling
Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church--Le Sueur, MN
