“Give Thanks to the Lord”

Sunday, November 28, 2021

And they brought in the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God. And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord and distributed to all Israel, both men and women, to each a loaf of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins.

Then he appointed some of the Levites as ministers before the ark of the Lord, to invoke, to thank, and to praise the Lord, the God of Israel. Asaph was the chief, and second to him were Zechariah, Jeiel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Mattithiah, Eliab, Benaiah, Obed-edom, and Jeiel, who were to play harps and lyres; Asaph was to sound the cymbals, and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests were to blow trumpets regularly before the ark of the covenant of God. Then on that day David first appointed that thanksgiving be sung to the Lord by Asaph and his brothers.

Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name;

        make known his deeds among the peoples!

Sing to him, sing praises to him;

        tell of all his wondrous works!

Glory in his holy name;

        let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice! (1 Chronicles 16.1-10)

Thanksgiving stands alone among the holidays commonly celebrated in this country.  Most of the mainstream holidays are designated by the federal government, and commemorate events of civic importance, and these were all established at some point during the relatively short history of the United States of America.  Then, there are the religious holidays, which originated in the Catholic Church’s liturgical calendar, which for many centuries set aside this day or that throughout the year to remember events and people in the Bible, as well as so-called “saints” since then.  And then, of course, there’s New Year’s Day, which is, well, New Year’s Day.  This is mostly a civic holiday, but it holds the distinction of being probably the oldest continuously celebrated holiday in the world (although the date chosen to mark the new year is a subject of debate).  But Thanksgiving is different.  It’s not one of the Catholic holidays, but it has been celebrated regularly since the 1600’s, long before our country was established.

In fairness, it’s essentially a harvest festival, and there are many examples of that sort of thing all over the world.  But what makes Thanksgiving unusual among them?  Most of the harvest festivals around the world at various times have boiled down to a celebration of this sentiment: “we did it!”  This makes a good deal of sense, since harvest is hard work, and marks the completion of the broader hard work of farming, so necessary to the task of keeping us all from starving to death during the cold, dark winter.  But only rarely has such a down-home, practical, dirt-under-the-fingernails holiday been invested with the more spiritual message, “God gave it!”  It’s baked right into the name, Thanksgiving.

In the long passage quoted above, there’s an excellent example to follow.  David retrieved the ark of the covenant from Kiriath-jearim, where it sat for many years, all but ignored.  Uzzah lost his life as part of this endeavor.  Obed-edom took responsibility for its security.  David built a semi-permanent house for it in Jerusalem.  The Levites carried this heavy, gold-plated all the way to its new home.  A long list of musicians, gatekeepers, heralds, and attendants accompanied its progress toward the city.  Many of these same people were enlisted to serve in the ark’s presence continually at its new home.  Many people pitched in to make this happen.  Many people made sacrifices.  It was a group effort, if ever there was one.  When they celebrated, what was their cry?  Not, “we did it!” but “give thanks to the Lord.”

That’s the sort of attitude that we ought to have about most things.  Jesus tells a parable about a servant and his master:

“Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded? So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.’” (Luke 17.9-10)

Paul says something similar about building up God’s house, the church:

What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. (1 Corinthians 3.5-7)

At times we shy away from giving glory to God, for fear of presuming he altered the course of events in answer to our prayer or need.  Skepticism about this sort of thing is warranted—if we assume every occurrence is a stamp of God’s approval or indicator of his anger, we’re no better than Job’s so-called friends, who badgered him incessantly over an unknown sin they assumed must be the cause of his catastrophic misfortune.  God “makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (Mt 5.45), but we shouldn’t deny that he also cares about us, answers our prayers, and “richly provides us with everything to enjoy” (1Ti 6.17).

It’s good to work hard.  It’s good to reap the benefits of your labor.  It’s good to work together, it’s good to plan ahead, and it’s good to celebrate success.  But recognize that success isn’t entirely your doing.  “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!” (1Ch 16.34).

Jeremy Nettles

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