Psalm 100:4 (NKJV)
Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.
Many historians will tell you that the Pilgrims came to America to escape religious persecution, but they had already escaped religious persecution when they fled from England to Holland. In 1620, the Pilgrims landed on the shores of America for one reason. They wanted to establish a nation upon the principles and precepts of the Word of God and their faith in Jesus Christ. This was their stated vision: “We want our nation to be a stepping stone to take the Gospel to the nations of the world.” Incidentally, the United States gives more to foreign missions than any other country in the world.
The original intent of the first unofficial Thanksgiving Day in 1621, which was celebrated by the Pilgrims of Plymouth, MA and the Wampanoag Indians, was to give thanks to God for all He had done for them. The purpose of the first Thanksgiving was to give thanks to God for all He had done.
Let’s fast forward to the year 1789: In 1789, President George Washington issued the first official Thanksgiving Day proclamation. It reads in part: “Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God – to obey His will – to be grateful for His benefits – and humbly implore His protection and favor, and whereas both Houses have, by their joint committee, requested me to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity to peaceably establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.”
Our first President intimated that because of the divine favor of God, every day should be Thanksgiving Day.
But 1863 was the pivotal year for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was then that President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. Here is part of what he said in his Thanksgiving Day Proclamation: “It has seemed to me fit and proper that God should be solemnly, reverently and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. 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 as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our Father who dwells in the heavens.”
Abraham Lincoln intimated that when we realize that everything is ultimately a gift from God, we can experience the attitude of gratitude.
Every President since 1863 has proclaimed a day of Thanksgiving and in 1941, Thanksgiving Day was finally sanctioned by Congress as a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday in November.
You ask, “Jim, what’s the point of the history lesson?” Glad you asked! The point is this: The reason we should give thanks by adopting and maintaining an attitude of gratitude is because this was the original plan of God for the United States of America. The original plan of God for the United States of America was to bless this land and its people so abundantly that they would have no other choice but to respond with thanksgiving!
Have an Ephesians 3:20 Thanksgiving!