What if Thanksgiving Isn’t Working for Me? - Part I
“But when you see the morning sun
Burning through a silver mist
Don’t you want to thank someone?
Don’t you want to thank someone for this?”
What is thanksgiving? I don’t just mean the holiday—but the actual word. That verb. The action of giving thanks. During the holiday of Thanksgiving, we commemorate that idea of giving thanks but can lose the vitality of what it is we’re actually doing. What’s going on here?
What does it really mean to give thanks?
What are we giving?
And to Whom are we giving this?
Of course, most of us have heard the treasured tales of the first Thanksgiving, and later the amazing declaration of Abraham Lincoln in the wake of Gettysburg and in the midst of Civil War, to turn to God, to give Him thanks in the middle of…everything.
But Abe and the first settlers were pulling from a deeper theme in Scripture. In the struggle for survival and the devastation of war, they drew back to God’s command to remember.
From Genesis through Revelation, God tells His people to look at His ways, His mighty acts, His victories among them—and mark that moment as a God-moment. To remember that moment as a moment when God moved.
Would you say you’ve experienced a God-moment?
Israel practiced this as a nation. They would take account as a people, point to a moment that God came through, and say that right there, that was a moment God showed up. For our people. For us. For me.
They would mark this with a Stone of Remembrance, an Ebenezer—see 1 Samuel 7:12 (check out an article on Ebenezers here).
These Ebenezer stones were stacked and marked a physical spot where Israel worshipped God for His breakthrough. These testified to them in future moments, especially when it was hard to see, the heart and power of the Living God toward them. They were telling their future by looking backward.
“They were telling their future by looking backward.”
Thanksgiving is looking back at these moments of breakthrough where God showed up and remembering—despite everything we’ve faced—that is Who God really is. And translating God’s heart and power from that time into this moment.
When circumstances, struggles, or sins pile up against us—where do you reorient? Who is God when things are hard?
Thanksgiving—remembrance—is the act of turning back to those God moments, to our best memories with God in order to look forward.
The biblical call to thanksgiving points to those moments God showed up, where we can say without a doubt, “That was God.”
And then, in a breath saying, “And that is who God is. Who He is truly. Who He is to me now, too, even if I haven’t seen it yet.”
With everything that changes and shifts in this life, God doesn’t change. He has revealed Himself, in Scripture, yes, and in my life. And He will continue to be the same God.
And in thanksgiving…as I remember Him…suddenly, I connect again to that truth of Who God is. My God-moment “back-then” beckons a now-moment.
“My God-moment “back-then” beckons a now-moment.”
The physicality of those Ebenezer stones were intended to endure as a remembrance for Israel and to their next generations—a generational prayer for God to “Do it again!”
Prayerfully consider and wonder with God…..
What are the areas where you’ve seen God’s help? Where have you seen God’s work in your story?
What did you notice about God in that season? What was His heart toward you?
Did you experience His love? His presence? His healing? His forgiveness? His peace? His Spirit? What was it for you?
If God doesn’t change, what would it be like to come to Him, that God, your God, afresh today?
And, if trying to remember God-moments is only highlighting the contrast of struggle, grief, or pain in this season, then check out:
Part II of What if Thanksgiving Isn’t Working for Me?
And take a step deeper into your heart during this holiday season…
Remember…
“The Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words.
And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will.”
Video Reflection
As you’ve been reading, what is coming up for you?
Are you noticing a desire to remember all that God has done?
Or perhaps He feels distant or uninvolved?
Take a moment to listen to this video below…
And reflect with God over the areas of your life where He is present…
Also, consider where you still need to see Him involved in meaningful ways right now…
