Praise the LORD.
Psalm 106:2
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
his love endures forever.
Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD
or fully declare his praise?
The holiday season is upon us in full spring. Today is Thanksgiving. It is also the first day of Hanukkah this year. These holidays rarely coincide.
While Thanksgiving has devolved into “Turkey Day” and the beginning for the Christmas shopping season, it was originally created as a day to give thanks to God. Consider this excerpt from Abraham Lincoln’s original proclamation 150 years ago: (emphasis mine)
I do therefore invite my fellow citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the Heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings, they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the interposition of the Almighty Hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it as soon as may be consistent with the Divine purposes to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility and Union.
Despite being in the middle of a terrible war, he recognized there was still much to thank God for.
Hanukkah likewise originated in the middle of a war. It remembers the re-dedication of the Temple and altar. The Temple had been desecrated by the Selucids who were ruling over Israel. The Jews had successfully retaken Jerusalem, and the Temple rituals began again.
This Thanksgiving and Hanukkah, take extra time to thank God for the abundant blessings he has bestowed. Dedicate your life to serving the Lord with a thankful and penitent heart.