Setting the Table for Thanksgiving

Give thanks in all circumstances,
this is God’s will
for you, in Christ Jesus.
  – 1 Thessalonians 5: 19

We hope you and your loved ones will be able to celebrate Thanksgiving together.  Thanksgiving affords us a yearly opportunity to count our blessings and be thankful.

On the other hand, our human nature makes us prone to remain stuck in our “if only’s” and our “wish we could have’s.”  Thankfully, the best anecdote for these maladies is a thankful heart.  This Thanksgiving season is our opportunity to invest some time alone, or with loved ones, for reflection upon our many blessings, and to thank God the Giver of them all. 

When our son Brad and daughter Mindy were still in our home, we had a Sunday-after-church tradition.  While mom prepared lunch, dad would read to each of them in turn their weekly take-home Bible lesson papers.  On one particular Sunday, November 27, 1988, Mindy’s weekly Challenge (Regular Baptist Press, Schaumburg, IL) provided the lyrics to the great old hymn, “Thanks to God for My Redeemer,” written in 1891 by the Swedish Christian, August Ludvig Storm.  We have kept this issue of Challenge as an occasional reminder of biblical reasons to be thankful. 
CLICK on the image to enlarge.

What follows is a line-by-line exposition of “Thanks to God for My Redeemer” including selected Scriptures to encourage you as Thanksgiving approaches:

Thanks to God for my Redeemer,

For the Christ-follower, all other reasons for being thankful rest on thankfulness for our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.   In the Judeo-Christian tradition, a redeemer is someone who steps in to rescue, buy back, or otherwise restore a person or family that is bound in debt or slavery.  Often the redeemer was a family member, one who identifies as a flesh and blood relative—i.e. a “kinsman-redeemer.”

The romantic story in the Old Testament Book of Ruth features romantic story of an Israelite named Boaz who became at the kinsman-redeemer of a Moabite foreigner, a widow named Ruth.  Boaz and Ruth married and bore a son, Obed, who later became the father of Jesse, and grandfather of David, the shepherd and king of Israel. 

Boaz provided a foreshadowing of a future divine Kinsman Redeemer, One whom God had promised to be born through the line of King David.  Centuries later, Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of Mary in human flesh and blood, and became our Kinsman-Redeemer.  Jesus is the divine Son of God, yet fully human, and therefore identifies with us in body, mind, and spirit:

For this reason, He [Jesus Christ] had to be made like His brothers in every way, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, in order to make atonement for the sins of the people.  Because He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted.  – Hebrews 2: 17-18

For the Christ-follower, the central foundation for being thankful is our Redeemer, Jesus Christ.   The writer of this poem set to music understood this principle.  His first line offers thanks to God for our Redeemer, and his second line directs our hearts to the vast array of additional blessings God provides:

Thanks for all Thou dost provide!

James, half-brother of Jesus Christ echoes this truth with his reverent praise to God:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow. – James 1: 17

Notice the psalmist adds two conditions for God’s blessings:

No good thing does He withhold from those who walk with integrity. – Psalm 84: 11

First, he claims that God is good and does not withhold “good things.”  Second, in order for us to recognize what “good things” really are, we must know and obey God.  August Ludvig Storm completes the first stanza recounting some “good things” many of us experience over time, even things that may not have appeared “good” at the time:

Thanks for times now but a mem’ry,
Thanks for Jesus by my side!
Thanks for pleasant, balmy springtime,
Thanks for dark and stormy fall!
Thanks for tears by now forgotten,
Thanks for peace within my soul!

This Thanksgiving, we pause and use God’s gift of our memory to recall and cherish our past blessings, and to be thankful that Jesus was there “by our side.”  If we live in the upper latitudes, the seasonal changes ebb and flow as a reminder that while time presses on incessantly, God remains faithful and unchanging.  Most of all, we can cherish the gift of God’s “peace within our soul” as we look to Him when we recall the dark and stormy periods that brought tears.  When we keep God’s command to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5: 17), we can “give thanks in every circumstance… (v. 18).

The writer now continues his emphasis on prayer:

Thanks for prayers that Thou hast answered,
Thanks for what Thou dost deny!
Thanks for storms that I have weathered,
Thanks for all Thou dost supply!

Again, out spirit of thankfulness ought to be rooted in the strong faith that helps us to thank God for answered prayer.  This means we thank Him from our hearts whether His answer is a “Yes,” a “No,” or a “Wait, keep praying, and see.”   The Apostle Paul gives us further inspiration and hope (Romans 5: 1-5):

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we also have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we celebrate in hope of the glory of God.  And not only this, but we also celebrate in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

If life were a “bed of roses,” we would miss the spiritual growth that comes with realizing how much we need God’s comfort and grace daily:

Thanks for pain, and thanks for pleasure,
Thanks for comfort in despair!

The Apostle Paul was no stranger to pain and deprivation (2 Corinthians 11: 16-31 expressed thankfulness to the church at Philippi for their concern and generosity in sharing to meet his needs (Philippians 4: 11-13):

Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.  I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.  I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.

Paul’s powerful testimony in the midst of both prosperity and humble means remained firm because his life was rooted in dependence upon God’s grace and love.  His strong conviction was perfectly captured in the next two lines of August Ludvig Storm’s poem:

Thanks for grace that none can measure,
Thanks for love beyond compare!

Paul shared his thankfulness for God’s grace and love through his personal testimony, saying:  Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 1: 13-14).

The Apostle John echoes Paul’s deep appreciation for God’s abundant grace:  From His fullness we have all received grace upon grace (John 1: 16).

Maybe this Thanksgiving, the spirit of thankfulness may have fled from you in the face of great trials that God has allowed into your life.  If this describes you, note that our writer continues his theme of blessings accompanied by trials in the first two lines of his final stanza:

Thanks for roses by the wayside,
Thanks for thorns their stems contain!

There are times when the paths of our lives are lined with lovely roses.  But, as rose gardeners know well, the careless handling of roses exposes our hands to their sharp prickles.  So it is in life, we must learn that even beautiful things, when they distract us from God’s better and best, can result in physical and spiritual wounds.

One of God’s greatest blessings which deserves our thankfulness is our home and the “cozy fireside,” a safe and welcoming place to retreat from the world’s confusion and frustration.  Our hymn writer captures these thoughts so well, and thanks God for the hope we can have as fellow heirs with Christ:

Thanks for home and thanks for fireside,
Thanks for hope, that sweet refrain!

Romans 5: 2b-5 records Paul’s testimony and we learn his secret of having hope without disappointment, even in the midst of trial:  …and we exult in hope of the glory of God.  And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.

August Ludvig Storm concludes his lovely Thanksgiving rhyme with a summary of the overall theme. 

Thanks for joy and thanks for sorrow,
Thanks for heav’nly peace with Thee!
Thanks for hope in the tomorrow,
Thanks through all eternity!

Recall our opening Scripture from 1 Thessalonians 5: 19:  Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.  We are commanded to give thanks, whether in joy or in sorrow.  What’s more, we are to thank God FOR the joy and FOR our sorrow!  But how can God expect us to thank Him during both time of our joy and sorrow by simply commanding it?  He wants us to ask in prayer:

If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it shall be done for you.  By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples (John 15: 7-8).

When we abide in (remain, yield to, obey) Him and yield to God’s Spirit’s working within us, we can display the fruit of love, joy, and peace among other fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5: 22-23).  We hope you are no stranger to the “heavenly peace” in the midst of trial that only God’s Spirit can produce within us.  If we say, “I don’t feel like being joyful or thanking God for my trials,” it becomes an act of our will and obedience to God’s command to overcome our fear and anxiety (Philippians 4: 6-7) (emphasis added):

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

God’s purpose and plan is straightforward:  as we reject anxiety in favor of prayers to our Heavenly Father with thanksgiving, He gives us “peace that surpasses all comprehension” which, in turn, guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  When we abide in Christ Jesus and He is in us, we have the Spirit of our Kinsman Redeemer who knows by experience the trials and suffering beyond what we can even imagine.  He is our Redeemer, Intercessor, Advocate, and Friend.  We thank you God!

Conclusion
Maybe you are facing a situation in which you find it easy to worry but hard for you to give thanks to God in prayer.  We hope the words of August Ludvig Storm’s poem and resultant hymn will encourage you today.  Let’s make thankful hearts the centerpieces of our Thanksgiving tables. 

Therefore, we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.  For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal (2 Corinthians 4: 16-18).  – Apostle Paul (Philippians 4: 6-7).