Thanksgiving is one of America’s favorite holidays. A time to spend with those you love, eat too much food, watch football, and battle all the holiday traffic if you’re unlucky enough to have to travel to someone. Although appropriated by the wider culture at large, Thanksgiving is a uniquely Christian holiday. After all, why give thanks if you have no one to thank?
Many of us have had a good year, and many things come to mind for which we are grateful. For others, the year has been filled with challenges and being asked, “What are you thankful for?” by a relative fills us with dread.
No matter what our year has been like, we can find wisdom in David’s song of thanks when he was crowned king, after the death of Saul and the defeat of his enemies. Upon his coronation, David ordered that the Ark of the Covenant be brought to Jerusalem, signifying that the presence of God had returned with it and would bless David’s reign. It is at the return of the Ark that David breaks into song to the Lord:
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples! Sing to him, sing praises to him; tell of all his wondrous works!…Sing to the Lord, all the earth! Tell of his salvation from day to day….Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations, “The Lord reigns!”…Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
1 Chronicle 16:8-9, 23, 31, 34
If the Lord has blessed you this year, if work is going well, your family relationships are united and happy, your family has been healthy, the bills are paid without stress, remember to thank him for this! If you have been blessed this year, it’s because the Lord reigns and has delighted to bless you. You have not brought yourself prosperity; he has. So as you gather with your family, remember to thank God for the many blessings that he has given you and to tell others everything the Lord has done for you this year.
If the Lord has not blessed you in these ways, if work has been overly demanding (if you have work at all), if your relationships are strained, you or those you love have been in poor health, if you’ve lost sleep over how you’re going to make the car payment this month, remember that you are far more blessed than the wealthiest families in the world.
Just as God dwelt with Israel upon David’s reign and the return of the Ark, so God dwells with you in your troubles because the greater David reigns upon his throne in heaven. This is why David continues in his song, “Save us, O God of our salvation, and gather and deliver us from among the nations” (v. 35). Although the Lord reigns and dwells with his people, this does not mean that there will not be cares and troubles in this life. But remember, if you have been united to Christ by faith in him, signified by your baptism, then the Lord is with you and reigns over everything, including your current circumstances. Your salvation and union with Christ is worth infinitely more than all the riches and comforts this world can bring.
As we all give thanks this season, although some of us may not have the temporal blessings that others do, we may all give thanks that we belong to Christ and that no matter what blessings we are or are not given in this life, that eternal riches are ours, which is something that should warm our hearts with eternal gratitude to God.
As we enter this Christmas season, may we remember everything that we have in Christ. Just as God came to dwell with Israel in Jerusalem, so God in Christ, our Immanuel (God with us), has come to his people, not merely to dwell with them for a season, but so that he might dwell with them forever.