Today's Sunday Scripture was originally prepared last week, but due to my surgery recovery it was not posted. I think it is still applicable as we go into the Advent season.
I recently did a survey on my Facebook page and asked...
"WHAT IS YOUR VERY FAVORITE HOLIDAY?"
Not surprising to me, the #1 favorite holiday was...
THANKSGIVING
by a long shot! It was almost a runaway!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday too, with Christmas a very close second!
Thanksgiving is an All-American holiday. First celebrated in the fall of 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Indians as a day to thank God and remember all that God had done for them.
Our beloved first president George Washington, called for Thursday Nov. 26, 1789 to be a national day of public prayer and thanksgiving to God
"to especially give thanks for the opportunity to form a new
nation and the establishment of a new constitution".
In 1863 President Lincoln issued a THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION that the last Thursday in November be set aside for thanksgiving.
Every president up until FD Roosevelt issued their own Thanksgiving Proclamation.
In 1939, President Roosevelt declared the second to last Thursday in November be a day of National Thanksgiving and Congress passed a law declaring that Thanksgiving would be celebrated every year on the second to last Thursday of November.
Thanksgiving is a religious holiday! A time to thank God for all we have and for the blessing of our country.
But, setting aside a day to give thanks to God is not unique to our country.
Many countries have set aside a day to thank God!
The Bible tells us to give thanks to God on an ongoing basis for everything!
I will give thanks to Thee, O LORD with all my heart. I will show forth all Your marvelous works!
Ps 9:1
This is a scripture verse worth remembering.
Written in it's original Hebrew this verse is resplendent with beautiful word imagery!
The word to give thanks (or in some translations to praise) is the word YADAH (pronounced yaw-daw'). It's original meaning is to throw, to shoot, to cast or to hold up the hands. It carries with it the image of lifting our hands in the air and to shake them with thanks!
Its a word that carries an action with it!!!! It's like giving thanks to God is a whole body experience that ends in our fingers extended and casting out thanks to the Lord.
Beautiful, isn't it?
And here's something else that will give greater meaning to this verse...
the heart (leb in Hebrew, pronounced lebe') to the ancients was the seat of all emotion, intellect, will and the mind. All the parts of us that cannot be seen! It's the, I love this description, "the ELSEWHERE of man"... the inner man that cannot be seen but is what makes us unique!
We are to thank God with all of our emotion, all of our intellect, all of our will, and with all of our thinking mind! AMAZING!
Now couple this with the act of thanking God with our hands strained towards the heavens and our fingertips shaking out praises to God and you've got the picture of what it looks like to thank God!
What a word picture for THANKFULNESS!
Can you imagine how that would rock most of today's modern church services?
I think the important take away from this word picture of thanking God is that it should be a whole body and mind activity. I'm not saying we have to shake and shimmy and quake as we pray... but our whole self should be straining and seeking God as we give thanks... maybe not outwardly, but certainly inwardly!
A couple of week's ago I wrote about A LIFE STRAINING TOWARDS GOD. And a quote really struck a cord with a lot of my readers...
KNOW BEFORE WHOM YOU STAND
This little phrase is very applicable when we give thanks! When we really focus on the Object of our blessings we can thank Him with our whole selves!
As we give thanks this Thanksgiving and move towards Christmas, let's remember to be thankful with our with every fiber of who we are!
And here's something else that will give greater meaning to this verse...
the heart (leb in Hebrew, pronounced lebe') to the ancients was the seat of all emotion, intellect, will and the mind. All the parts of us that cannot be seen! It's the, I love this description, "the ELSEWHERE of man"... the inner man that cannot be seen but is what makes us unique!
We are to thank God with all of our emotion, all of our intellect, all of our will, and with all of our thinking mind! AMAZING!
Now couple this with the act of thanking God with our hands strained towards the heavens and our fingertips shaking out praises to God and you've got the picture of what it looks like to thank God!
What a word picture for THANKFULNESS!
Can you imagine how that would rock most of today's modern church services?
I think the important take away from this word picture of thanking God is that it should be a whole body and mind activity. I'm not saying we have to shake and shimmy and quake as we pray... but our whole self should be straining and seeking God as we give thanks... maybe not outwardly, but certainly inwardly!
A couple of week's ago I wrote about A LIFE STRAINING TOWARDS GOD. And a quote really struck a cord with a lot of my readers...
KNOW BEFORE WHOM YOU STAND
This little phrase is very applicable when we give thanks! When we really focus on the Object of our blessings we can thank Him with our whole selves!
As we give thanks this Thanksgiving and move towards Christmas, let's remember to be thankful with our with every fiber of who we are!
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