Eve
of the National Day of Thanksgiving
November
26, 2025
Text: Deut. 8:1-10
You
shall remember. So the LORD commands
His people, Israel. And so he commands you. Thanksgiving, when you get right down to
it, is an exercise in remembrance.
When I say thank you to someone, I’m remembering the nice
thing that person did for me. The way to
foster a disposition of gratitude, gratefulness in my heart, is
to remember the good things done for me and given to me. And then to acknowledge them. That is what thanksgiving is. And, by the way, such gratitude always
requires an object. That is, someone
to thank. I don’t give thanks to myself. That would be absurd. I give thanks to the one who did the good
thing for me. We should always practice
that with the people around us who do nice things for us. Hopefully our mothers taught us that. But there is Someone else, who does all good
things for us, much of it through those very people. We Christians know that Someone, personally. And we love Him. Because He loves us. He is our gracious Father. And His beloved Son, Jesus Christ. And the Spirit of life and grace. He is our Triune God.
God commands
the Israelites to remember. But if
you’ve spent any amount of time reading the Old Testament, you know the
Israelites are so quick to forget.
God did so much for them, the people He formed to be His precious
possession. The gracious call of
Abraham. God’s providence toward the
patriarchs. The Blessing (the Land, the
Descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky or the sand by the sea, and THE
Descendent, the Promised Seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head). Then, slavery, yes, but the Promise of deliverer. Moses.
The plagues. The exodus. Crossing the Red Sea on dry ground. And now, the specifics listed in our reading:
God’s guiding Presence in the wilderness (the pillar of cloud by day, fire by
night); manna from heaven (not to mention quail, and water from the Rock… and
the Rock was Christ, Paul says [1 Cor. 10:4]); the Word of God, from His own
mouth, by which man lives; God’s Fatherly discipline (yes, we should be
thankful for that!); and now, in Deuteronomy, on the cusp of a good land, with
brooks of water, fountains and flowing springs, valleys and hills, wheat and
barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive trees, and honey; bread
without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; stones of iron, and hills
full of copper. You shall eat and be
full, God says, and therefore you shall give thanks. Remember, and bless the LORD your God
for this good land He has given you.
But
what did the Israelites do? Time and
time again? Grumble. Complain.
Reject the LORD’s prophets.
Reject the LORD. Look for other
gods to fill their bellies and tickle their fancies. We are amazed. I mean, the miracles these people witnessed! Only to forget! And yet, it reminds me of some other people I
know.
God
commands us to remember. But
like Israel of old, we are so quick to forget. So we grumble. Don’t we?
Even us Christians. We complain. Why?
For one thing, we’re just so full. We have so much. And so, we’ve developed a sense of entitlement. Rights. We deserve it. And we deserve it in the way, and in
the time we want it. See, this leads
to dissatisfaction, bitterness, resentment, and ultimately, despair. It hurts us, this amnesia with regard
to God’s gifts, this ungratefulness.
What
is the cure? Beloved, remember. Intentionally. As a matter of devotion. As a spiritual discipline. Remember all that God gives you. Creation (I mean, Psalm 19 hits it right on
the head: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims
his handiwork” [v. 1]). Providence (“The
eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season” [Ps.
145:15]). All the great things you
enjoy. All the great people with
whom God has surrounded you. Don’t despise
them. Your family. Your friends.
Your neighbors. Your
colleagues. Your fellow-redeemed, your
brothers and sisters in Christ in His Holy Church. (Do you realize what a glorious privilege it
is to be counted in this number? These
people, warts and all. I confess, I
all too often forget. God open our eyes…
and our hearts!)
God
gives us so much, and we don’t deserve any of it. He does it “only out of fatherly, divine
goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in” us.[1] The Catechism helps us with the specifics. When our Father in heaven gives us each day
our daily bread, what does that include?
It “includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the
body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods,
a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful
rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good
reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.” For all this it is our “duty to thank and
praise, serve and obey Him.”
So,
remember those things. But above all,
remember the things of your redemption.
God loves you. He sent His
Son. Jesus died for you. He took all your sins away, and put them to
death in His body on the cross. Jesus
lives for you. He is risen from the
dead. He ascended into heaven in your
flesh. He sits at the right hand of God
the Father Almighty in your flesh.
And He rules all things for your good, from the great affairs of
the nations and the movements of the cosmos, right down to what each cell of
your body is doing at this very moment.
Not to mention, all the things that trouble you. He has them all handled. Trust Him.
Every hair on your head, numbered.
Every heartbeat. Every breath. He knows them. He wills them. He counts them. He knows precisely how many you will take in a
lifetime. And what we will do for you at
the end of that lifetime. And at the End
of the world. Remember,
beloved. Remember.
Remembering
in the Bible is not simply calling to mind. It is living in the reality of the thing. Now, you can remember bad things. Disappointments. Sins committed against you. Sins you’ve committed. Grudges.
Remembering those things is easy.
We do it by nature. But I’ll tell
you now, that only leads to more bitterness, resentment, and despair. Don’t do that. Beloved, you’ve been given so much better
than that. Remember God’s unimaginable goodness
to you. And then you'll be filled with
gratitude and joy. And you’ll extend
that goodness to others. You’ll
know that Christ has forgiven you all your sins. So you’ll forgive others. And love them. And pray for them. And do good to them. And bless them. Remember God’s goodness to you, and you
will live in that reality.
The
Lord Jesus knows we have trouble remembering, and so He has given us two
precious gifts to help us remember.
First, His Word. He simply
tells us, again and again, every time we encounter His Voice in
Scripture, and in preaching, and in Christian confession, and in the mutual
conversation and consolation of brothers and sisters in Christ. By this, we know that “man does not live
by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the
Lord” (Deut. 8:3; ESV). And then, the
Holy Supper of His body and blood.
We even call it the Eucharist, from the Greek word that means Thanksgiving. What does Jesus say? “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke
22:19; 1 Cor. 11:24-25). That is, live
in the reality of My body, given into death on the cross for you, and My blood,
poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins, and your eternal life
and salvation. That changes your whole
life, beloved. Forever.
So… You
shall remember. Our Lord doesn’t
give us this commandment because His ego needs the credit for all He’s done for
us. That’s the kind of thing we think we
need (we don’t!), but it’s never what God needs. It is, rather, a Gospel gift when God bids us
remember. For in remembering,
we receive. Remembrance is faith. And faith gives thanks to God, as it
rejoices greatly in the Lord. Not for
God’s sake, but for its own. For the joy
that is in it. “Oh give thanks to the
LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!” (Ps.
106:1). Remember that, beloved. Remember it. And then come to the Great Thanksgiving Feast,
and be filled. In the Name of the
Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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