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THANKSGIVING

November 22, 2007

Good Shepherd Evangelical Lutheran Church

Sioux Falls, SD

Rev. Norman F. Seeger

 

Deuteronomy 8:1-10

Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers.  2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.  3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.  4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.  5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him.  7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;  8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;  9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

 

DEUTERONOMY 8:1-10

"Praise the Lord Our God…for the Good Land He has Given Us"

1.      Praise the Lord for the Quality of His Gifts – Setbacks & Shortages are only ‘Discipline’

2.      Praise the Lord for the Quantity of His Gifts -- Uncountable, Unending, Undeserved Treasures

 

Dear Children of God,

Is Thanksgiving a turkey-topped table filled with more food than anyone can comfortably eat?  Is Thanksgiving feasting Americans stuffing our faces today?  Or is Thanksgiving Pilgrims praising God for placing something on their plate instead of asking them to face a winter of starvation?  Quantity or quality?  Size or substance?  Is Thanksgiving time to thank God for food on top of my table or for family around my table?  Is Thanksgiving physical blessings or will we focus on spiritual gifts from God?

God’s Word today takes us back beyond pilgrims coming to America after a long trip across an ocean, takes us back to Israel entering their promised land of Canaan after wandering in a wilderness forty years.  Notice, God does not ask his people to choose quantity or quality nor to select physical or spiritual blessings.  Our Lord simply promises to provide high quality physical & spiritual gifts in sufficient quantities to cover our needs.

Applying this truth from the past to our life today, Scripture often draws a parallel between “Children of Israel” Moses leads through the wilderness to take possession of their promised land in Canaan & “Children of God” our Lord leads through the wilderness of this world to take possession of a place Jesus promised to prepare for us in his Father’s heavenly house.  Listening to the Lord, I pray we see ourselves in these Israelites – see ourselves as faithful souls wandering a worldly wilderness, souls prepared to soon step into our promised home in heaven.  Paying attention to God’s truth; eagerly applying Moses’ instructions for “Children of God” in every age, I pray we will "Praise the Lord…yes, praise the Lord our God for the good land he has given us!"

Praise the Lord?  Looking over Israel’ life in the wilderness -- reviewing my life -- noticing apparent setbacks & supposed shortages being used by God to instruct us as he disciplines his people, what could I do other than thank & praise the Lord for the quality of his blessings?  Honestly examining my life – impossibly listing every good & perfect physical & spiritual gift God gives me – trying to itemize every unending, undeserved blessing I receive today, what can I do other than praise the Lord for the quantity of his gifts?

"Praise the Lord," Israelites are instructed as we review our journey from the Red Sea to the Jordan river, to this eastern boundary of the land God promised ancestor Abraham as a prized possession five hundred years earlier.  “Why?” I might ask as my mind quickly replays forty years of Israel’s history, “Why praise the Lord?”  Scanning the days since God’s servant Moses freed us from slavery in Egypt, what memories float to the top?  Walking in circles, wandering aimlessly in a wilderness?  Do I recall futilely traveling forty years before reaching – actually re-reaching – this same territory we first approached three months away from the Red Sea?  Do I sadly remember a day we fearfully ate a last bite of bread carried out of Egypt?  Is the water of Marah coming to mind, water too bitter to drink despite our thirst?  Do I remember all the adults who died along the way -- everyone older than twenty exiting Egypt, except for Joshua & Caleb?  Is my primary memory poisonous snakes around Edom or an Amalekite army attacking at Rephidim?

Mentally retracing wilderness travels, Moses also sees the Lord's people wandering in circles forty years after he sees souls trembling in terror the first time they stand beside the promised land while ten of twelve spies talk about 'giants' & walled cities in an unconquerable country.  Moses’ memory treasures the sight of the Lord leading his people in a pillar of cloud or fire forty years -- a visible guarantee God is guiding our every step -- a visible test revealing our heart’s content as we either follow the Lord’s cloud or walk off in a different direction.  Peering into the past, Moses sees the last bit of Egyptian bread being eaten, but also sees the Lord place enough manna on the ground every morning for everyone to eat…sees the Lord toss a branch into the pool to sweeten bitter waters at Marah.

Moses sees the Lord "causing his people to hunger & then feeding them with manna...to teach them man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."  Moses remembers & reminds God’s chosen children our clothes did not wear out & our feet did not swell or become sore while walking through the wilderness forty years.  Seeing poisonous snakes around Edom, Moses’ mind focuses on a bronze serpent the Lord instructs him to place on a pole to provide a quick cure for everyone who is bitten but looks to this bronze serpent trusting the Lord’s promise to provide life instead of death.  Moses recalls an Amalekite army attacking, but primarily remembers God giving Joshua's Israelite army victory over this enemy while Aaron & Hur hold up Moses' arms on a hilltop.

Looking over wilderness wandering Scripture frequently uses to picture our life on earth today, do I see 40 years of problems, 480 troubled months or 14,000 days of disappointments?  Not if I look through the open, understanding eyes Moses uses to see God utilizing earthly “troubles” as tools to discipline or to 'make disciples of' people he keeps leading toward his promised land.

When I look at the past through Moses’ inspired eyes; as I see our Lord wonderfully blessing us in this wilderness, I thank & praise God for the quality & quantity of his gifts!  Looking into the future with Moses’ instructed eyes, as I see our Lord pouring uncountable, unimaginable blessings upon us, I thank & praise God for the good land he is giving us!

Israel’s promised land will definitely be different from the desert -- as dissimilar as heaven is from earth.  There will be no more 'bitter-water' Marahs -- "the LORD our God is bringing us into a good land -- a land with streams & pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys & hills."  There will be no more manna either -- “bread from heaven” is not needed once we cross the Jordan -- "the Lord our God is bringing us into a land with wheat & barley, vines & fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil & honey; a land where bread will not be scarce & we will lack nothing."

In this promised land, no one will wander aimlessly.  God will not lead us in a pillar of cloud & fire once he sets his tabernacle in a permanent place, but the Lord will still guide us through his written word, expressing his will for our lives in laws Moses recorded.  Satan's temptations (pictured by poisonous serpents) will still exist, but our Savior's promised forgiveness & God’s gift of eternal life (pictured by that bronze serpent) will always be overpowering evil.

Pushing history’s “fast forward” button brings the Lord’s lesson into our lives.  Slowing to scan these last years the way Moses led Israel to review their wilderness travels, what do I remember from these last decades?  Is life going in circles?  Am I laboring faithfully (as our Lord instructs) without appearing to accomplish anything or get anywhere?  Do I sadly remember a day I spent my last dollar because ‘necessary’ expenses were bigger than my income?  Are my life’s major memories physical sicknesses I suffered or a death that keeps “closing in” as my body decays?

Do I have any real reason to give God thanks today?  Without a doubt -- if I look over my life with faithful, 'Moses-like' eyes!  Look at our life’s “lows” a little while.  Focus on periods where problems seem to appear around every corner – illness, unemployment, angry ends to important relationships.  Moses’ understanding eyes will see what our world often terms “troubled times” as days where our Lord was disciplining me – using some physical failure or professional flop to call for my repentance, showing me my sins even as Jesus assures me his forgiveness.  Will my mind lament what our world would label “a tragedy” – a car-shattering, body-breaking accident; a deal-destroying, business-bankrupting mental mistake; a family feud fueled by false assumptions?  Moses’ open eyes let me see that in times humans too easily term ‘tragic’ our Lord is firmly but lovingly correcting my life -- grabbing my attention, turning me around; re-focusing my faith on our Savor’s plan for his disciples’ lives to be filled with truthful words & loving actions.  As Moses’ inspired eyes help me see what is actually happening when apparent problems appear in my life, can I do anything other than ‘give thanks’ & praise our Lord for the highest-quality life God gives me as he turns troubles into triumphs & bends problems into blessings?

Comparing our life in this world’s wilderness with the Lord's people wandering a forty-year desert path to the promised land quickly leads us to “praise the Lord” & give thanks to God since there really is no comparison.  Physically, our Lord is not feeding us manna, miraculous bread from heaven.  Manna is not necessary today.  Our Lord keeps using nature to supply all we need, actually more than we need – think of the ‘leftovers’ we will likely throw away today after we've eaten "more than we should."  Physically, our Lord is not asking me to wear one pair of shoes forty years; our Lord is not giving me one set of clothes for four decades.  Look in your closet.  Can I even count all the outfits?  Physically, God is giving me strength, giving me the skills needed to earn the bread I eat.  What else can anyone say?  "Praise God!  Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good!"[PS 118]

Spiritually, our Lord's "Word is a lamp to our feet & a light for our path,"[PS 119] today, as it was for Israel.  In Scripture, God guides every aspect of my life [as clearly as he led Israel through the wilderness in a fiery/cloudy pillar] if I will only look to his Word to learn what I should say, how I should act, where I should walk.  Spiritually, our Lord's promises are as powerful as ever.  "Every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord" still produces life -- brings me faith; strengthens my faith; activates my faithfulness.  Spiritually, God's forgiving grace keeps increasing more quickly than my sins – as the Lord promised it would.  Obviously, the quantity & quality of our Lord's blessings are immeasurable.  Our reasons to “thank God” are unending as we live in this wilderness world where our Lord supplies & will provide everything we truly need for life, although not necessarily fulfilling all our wants or desires as he keeps us from contentedly settling for some second-rate “heaven on earth.”

When we see what God is giving us today, can anyone imagine what blessings we will enjoy when we cross the river of death to take possession of our Lord's promised home in heaven?  Thank God!  What else could I do?  With your words & with your works thank & praise the Lord our God for the good land he is giving us!

Amen.