Today's Sunday Scripture was originally prepared last week, but due to my surgery recovery it was not posted. I think it is still applicable as we go into the Advent season.
I recently did a survey on my Facebook page and asked...
"WHAT IS YOUR VERY FAVORITE HOLIDAY?"
Not surprising to me, the #1 favorite holiday was...
THANKSGIVING
by a long shot! It was almost a runaway!
Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday too, with Christmas a very close second!
Thanksgiving is an All-American holiday. First celebrated in the fall of 1621 by the Pilgrims and the Indians as a day to thank God and remember all that God had done for them.
Our beloved first president George Washington, called for Thursday Nov. 26, 1789 to be a national day of public prayer and thanksgiving to God
"to especially give thanks for the opportunity to form a new
nation and the establishment of a new constitution".
In 1863 President Lincoln issued a THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION that the last Thursday in November be set aside for thanksgiving.
Every president up until FD Roosevelt issued their own Thanksgiving Proclamation.
In 1939, President Roosevelt declared the second to last Thursday in November be a day of National Thanksgiving and Congress passed a law declaring that Thanksgiving would be celebrated every year on the second to last Thursday of November.
Thanksgiving is a religious holiday! A time to thank God for all we have and for the blessing of our country.
But, setting aside a day to give thanks to God is not unique to our country.
Many countries have set aside a day to thank God!
The Bible tells us to give thanks to God on an ongoing basis for everything!
I will give thanks to Thee, O LORD with all my heart. I will show forth all Your marvelous works!
Ps 9:1
This is a scripture verse worth remembering.
Written in it's original Hebrew this verse is resplendent with beautiful word imagery!
The word to give thanks (or in some translations to praise) is the word YADAH (pronounced yaw-daw'). It's original meaning is to throw, to shoot, to cast or to hold up the hands. It carries with it the image of lifting our hands in the air and to shake them with thanks!
Its a word that carries an action with it!!!! It's like giving thanks to God is a whole body experience that ends in our fingers extended and casting out thanks to the Lord.
Beautiful, isn't it?
And here's something else that will give greater meaning to this verse...
the heart (leb in Hebrew, pronounced lebe') to the ancients was the seat of all emotion, intellect, will and the mind. All the parts of us that cannot be seen! It's the, I love this description, "the ELSEWHERE of man"... the inner man that cannot be seen but is what makes us unique!
We are to thank God with all of our emotion, all of our intellect, all of our will, and with all of our thinking mind! AMAZING!
Now couple this with the act of thanking God with our hands strained towards the heavens and our fingertips shaking out praises to God and you've got the picture of what it looks like to thank God!
What a word picture for THANKFULNESS!
Can you imagine how that would rock most of today's modern church services?
I think the important take away from this word picture of thanking God is that it should be a whole body and mind activity. I'm not saying we have to shake and shimmy and quake as we pray... but our whole self should be straining and seeking God as we give thanks... maybe not outwardly, but certainly inwardly!
A couple of week's ago I wrote about A LIFE STRAINING TOWARDS GOD. And a quote really struck a cord with a lot of my readers...
KNOW BEFORE WHOM YOU STAND
This little phrase is very applicable when we give thanks! When we really focus on the Object of our blessings we can thank Him with our whole selves!
As we give thanks this Thanksgiving and move towards Christmas, let's remember to be thankful with our with every fiber of who we are!
And here's something else that will give greater meaning to this verse...
the heart (leb in Hebrew, pronounced lebe') to the ancients was the seat of all emotion, intellect, will and the mind. All the parts of us that cannot be seen! It's the, I love this description, "the ELSEWHERE of man"... the inner man that cannot be seen but is what makes us unique!
We are to thank God with all of our emotion, all of our intellect, all of our will, and with all of our thinking mind! AMAZING!
Now couple this with the act of thanking God with our hands strained towards the heavens and our fingertips shaking out praises to God and you've got the picture of what it looks like to thank God!
What a word picture for THANKFULNESS!
Can you imagine how that would rock most of today's modern church services?
I think the important take away from this word picture of thanking God is that it should be a whole body and mind activity. I'm not saying we have to shake and shimmy and quake as we pray... but our whole self should be straining and seeking God as we give thanks... maybe not outwardly, but certainly inwardly!
A couple of week's ago I wrote about A LIFE STRAINING TOWARDS GOD. And a quote really struck a cord with a lot of my readers...
KNOW BEFORE WHOM YOU STAND
This little phrase is very applicable when we give thanks! When we really focus on the Object of our blessings we can thank Him with our whole selves!
As we give thanks this Thanksgiving and move towards Christmas, let's remember to be thankful with our with every fiber of who we are!
I have been reading your blog for the past few months. Along with a few others, Faith is implemented in the posts. I was raised a Catholic, but open to other faiths too ( meaning I don't judge). I love reading your Sunday devotions. Hope you are recovering nicely. Have a blessed Sunday, Kathleen, Az
ReplyDeleteIn my Bible reading in November, I am in 1 Kings...and Solomon praying before God in the new temple is the very picture of this sort of praying...
ReplyDelete( I have also attended charismatic churches in the past and raising the hands in worship during song is typical there )
Whether one does this physically or not, the imagery of the body straining towards and praying wholeheartedly is very aptly described in your latest two posts :)
So Thankful my HOPE is in the Lord as we begin this advent. Also, so thankful that we live in a country that still allows us to worship openly...I have so much to be thankful for especially to our Lord! Praying you are recovering well. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful post! Such imagery! I love the idea of straining towards the Lord and of Him reaching out for me.
ReplyDeleteI love Thanksgiving too - one holiday that revolves around family and nothing much more than a great feast.....so def one of my favorites. That's why I don't decorate for Christmas until it is officially over.
ReplyDeleteI think my FAV holiday is Easter though, I renew my spiritual health incredibly then, and the world becomes new and it is just so beautiful.
Wonderful post, Yvonne. Thank you.
What a beautiful post, I love the meaning of "thanks"! We do that in our church and in my time of prayer on a regular basis, sometimes not even realizing what we are doing. It something that I feel for sure.
ReplyDeleteWasn't Thanksgiving this year on the last Thursday of November? Has it been changed since Pres. Roosevelt?
In Canada our Thanksgiving is the second Monday of October. I love that it's in October.
I loved this post, you are so right about the way we should praise God for all our blessings. God is so good to us!!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
Thank you Yvonne! As a women of faith I thoroughly enjoy your Sunday postings. I am a pastor's wife and your encouraging words and teaching are so uplifting and faith provoking. God bless and I will pray for a speedy healing from your surgery. Thanks, Donna H.
ReplyDeleteyour blog and sunday posting are such inspiration to me! uplifting!! God Bless you and pray for a speedy recovery as well!! Blessings.
ReplyDelete