“Let all the earth
fear the Lord; Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of Him.”
“Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; The people whom He has chosen for
His own inheritance.” “Behold, the eye
of the Lord is on those who fear Him, On those who hope for His lovingkindness”
(Psa. 33:8, 12, 18).
Hey Gang, Did you know that our Founding Fathers openly
recognized that God was the source
of a successful nation? They were aware
of our need for God, if we were to be a healthy nation. George Washington said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” They knew that, if the nation was going to
work, its people needed to voluntarily live by God’s rules.
My Bride and I have been truly blessed this year as we have
traversed a devotional book compiled by Dr. Richard G. Lee, titled In God We
Still Trust. It consists of quotes
from many of our Founding Fathers, and others who have succeeded them, openly
acknowledging that a nation without God was a nation that would soon join all
the civilizations that have gone before that did not recognize this truth.
On October 3, 1863, in the midst of the civil War, President
Abraham Lincoln called Americans to a National Day of Thanksgiving and
Praise. He proclaimed “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. It has seemed to me fit and proper that they 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…to set apart and observe the last Thursday
of November next, a day of Thanksgiving and Praise to our Beneficient Father
who dwells in the Heavens.
He went on and implored the Lord to heal the wounds of our
great 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.”
Henry Ward Beecher wrote, “The Bible is God’s chart for you to steer by, to keep you from the
bottom of the sea, and to show you where the harbor is, and how to reach it
without running on the rocks or bars.”
In his 1815 Thanksgiving Proclamation, President James
Madison reminded his audience: “No people ought to feel greater obligations
to celebrate the goodness of the great Disposer of Events of the destiny of nations
than the people of the United States…And to the same Divine Author of Every
Good and Perfect Gift we are indebted for all those privileges and advantages, religious
as well as civil, which are so richly enjoyed in this favored land”.
Times have changed.
We may be the only culture in the world that openly acknowledges God in
our Constitution, on our money, and on Thanksgiving, but refuses to allow God
to be named in any of our public intuitions.
As a nation, we are working hard to push God out of our lives. Ignoring
God is not unusual, it began in the Garden of Eden with the statement, “You
surely will not die, you can be just like God”.
The history of the world is really the story of people finding new ways
to reject God.
My prayer for you this day is that you will turn your face
towards God from the depths of your soul this Thanksgiving. That you will do more than thank Him for the
good things in your life but give your heart to Him with a new and deeper
commitment and that Thanksgiving day will be a daily ThanKsliving event in your
life and not just a one day passing celebration.
Have a Blessed and happy Thanksliving Year,
Gramps
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