We all know the very first Thanksgiving in this nation was instituted by President Abraham Lincoln at a time of great turmoil and division in this nation—the Civil War. In the throes of that turmoil, President Lincoln recalled the great blessings the nation still enjoyed as people labored hard and the population continued to increase despite great losses on the battlefield.
While commending the worthy efforts of the people, President Lincoln did not attribute praise for these successes to himself or the hardworking people of that time. In his own words, Lincoln declared that “no human counsel hath devised, nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.”
In a time when men are inclined to take credit for whatever accomplishments this nation enjoys amid our own turmoil, we would do well to stop at this Thanksgiving season and remember Who is Sovereign and that any blessings we enjoy are the “gracious gifts of the Most High God.” Let us not forget that these blessings are undeserved demonstrations of God’s grace and mercy. Let us also not forget that our rebellion and sins will be judged.
And let’s be very clear about something. Thanksgiving Day is not “turkey day” as some would reckon it. We would do well to remember the one worthy purpose President Lincoln assigned for this day in 1863. He declared that purpose was to give thanks and praise to God and Him alone. It is a tragedy that Thanksgiving Day has in great measure been robbed of that prescribed mission, much as we have done with many of our sacred observances.
With that purpose in mind, let us pause around our Thanksgiving Day tables abundant in delicacies for feasting and merriment and remember the words President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed 161 years ago and reclaim them for this Day of Thanksgiving in 2024…
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they (i.e., the mercies of 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 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 (unity). –Abraham Lincoln
May this Thanksgiving Day ignite a new perspective for you and your family as you give praise and thanksgiving to the One from whom all blessings come!
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