In the midst of the Civil War, on October 3, 1863, Abraham Lincoln called for Americans “to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens.” So it has been for the last 145 years.
Ironically (at least it’s ironic now in light of our Thanksgiving celebrations), in March of the same year, Lincoln had declared a National Fast Day. I’d like for us to consider part of that much lesser-known speech:
We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious hand which preserved us in peace and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us, and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
And we think times have changed! Friends, let’s not forget from whom our bountiful blessings have come; let’s not forget the gracious hand that has preserved us; let’s not, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, imagine that our own superior wisdom and virtue has attained for us anything of value.
Last week, our small group spent our monthly fellowship time praying for each other’s families, especially those who are without the Lord. May we continue this week to lift up not only our families but also our nation. Many of our family members, neighbors, and leaders have indeed become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace. In great humility, may we both bless the name of our gracious and merciful Lord, and may we also speak of the glory of His kingdom, to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts (Psalm 145).
Happy Thanksgiving and Praise Day!!!
~adam graig for the Mission’s Team