Thanksgiving – A Time to Thank God
- David Schrader, PhD
- Sep 29
- 4 min read
If you have ever read the Old Testament, it’s amazing how many times God says that Israel, “forgot the Lord their God.”
After the Israel wandered through the desert for forty years, Moses tells them just before they entered the promised land in Deut. 8:7-9:
For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful, and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills.
What a paradisiacal description! After 40 years of wandering around in the desert, this had to be a welcomed relief. A new beginning with so much to offer.
But God tells them that once they arrive and begin experiencing this new life, they are to bless the Lord their God and be thankful for His goodness. That doesn’t sound like too much to ask, does it? And, besides, who wouldn’t want to express gratitude for such a bountiful land? Forgetting to be thankful almost seems like an impossible thing to do, especially when they could see and experience the land’s beauty and bounty on a daily basis.
But, nonetheless, God tells them in verse 11 to be careful to not forget God. He even continues to give them a warning. He begins with the word, “beware.” When God uses the word, “beware “we should take notice:
Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. (Dt 8:11–16).
In the next verse that follows,, the purpose of 40 years in the wilderness was to humble them. Deut. 8:16-17 states: “He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.”
God instructs not only Israel but all of us to continually give thanks to Him. If we don’t, it is just a matter of time before we forget Him and pride and arrogance will soon follow. And then we begin to think that all our possessions that we own is because of our own prowess and hard work.
The theme of remembering God in the Bible is directly linked to giving Him thanks and it is inseparable from our faith. People of strong faith remember, and those who remember are those who give thanks. Those who forget God are ungrateful. This is true for nations as well as individuals. Remember, there is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed. If it is unexpressed, it is plain old-fashioned ingratitude.
Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn made this following observation about his own country:
Over a half century ago, while I was still a child, I recall hearing a number of old people offer the following explanation for the great disasters that had befallen Russia: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.”
Since then, I have spent well-nigh 50 years working on the history of our revolution; in the process I have read hundreds of books, collected hundreds of personal testimonies, and have already contributed eight volumes of my own toward the effort of clearing away the rubble left by that upheaval. But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous revolution that swallowed up some 60 million of our people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: “Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.[1]
Solzhenitsyn was right! There seems to be a certain historical pattern in Western Civilization. God blesses certain people who are hardworking, but who are also humble, thankful, and who depend on God in their day-to-day living. Over time they experience a certain degree of abundance and wealth. And then slowly they begin to take credit for all their prosperity, their hearts then become proud, and they forget about God.
As we approach Thanksgiving, I encourage you to cultivate a thankful heart. Not only is it pleasing to God, but it will also impact you. It will keep your heart humble. After King David and Israel gave a large offering for the building of the temple, David said the following in 1 Chronicles 29:13-16:
Wealth and honor come from you alone, for you rule over everything. Power and might are in your hand, and at your discretion people are made great and given strength. O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name! But who am I, and who are my people, that we could give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we give you only what you first gave us! We are here for only a moment, visitors and strangers in the land as our ancestors were before us. Our days on earth are like a passing shadow, gone so soon without a trace. “O LORD our God, even this material we have gathered to build a Temple to honor your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you.
You can clearly see why David was called a man after God’s heart. He took no credit for anything he owned or willing gave to the building of the temple. He realized that everything he owned belonged to God and was given to him by God. At this thanksgiving, it would serve us well to remember the same.
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