Thanksgiving special: Let him who is wise give heed to these things.

Thanksgiving Message 2012

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Since 1864, Americans have celebrated Thanksgiving as a national holiday to give thanks for blessings received throughout the year.

As an American tradition, we remember the first Thanksgiving as the gathering of the Pilgrims in Plymouth, Massachusetts celebrating the success of their Fall Harvest in 1621.

Deu 8:10-20

When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.

11 " Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; 12 otherwise,when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 15 "He led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water; He brought water for you out of the rock of flint. 16 "In the wilderness He fed you manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do good for you in the end. 17 "Otherwise, you may say in your heart, 'My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth.' 18 "But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 "It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. 20 "Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.

Deu 28:47-48

47 " Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things;

Deut 28:48 therefore you shall serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

God’s word was life itself to these Pilgrims...

For good reason, Psalm 107 is called the Pilgrim’s Psalm.

It is also the third in a trilogy of Psalms.

Psalm 105 recounts Israel’s experience from the time of God’s covenant with Abraham to the people’s entrance into the promised land.

Psalm 106 tracks their unfaithfulness during that same time period and reflects the years of their exile to Babylon.

Psalm 107 thanks God for their deliverance from that exile in Babylon.

Psalm 107 is a Psalm of thanksgiving and praise to the Lord of the regathered people of Israel after their Babylonian bondage.

Psa 107:1-43