Well, I missed my dateline by two days. In my last blog I said, "I will be adding to this blog Monday, November 24th." "My bad," as the kids would say.
My prayer today is that as you catch up with us you really, truly, enjoy a very fulfilling Thanksgiving with your family and your friends. Thanksgivings have always been a very important part of our lives. In fact Judy reminded me that this is the first Thanksgiving she can remember, in our married lives, that she has not prepared the feast! We will be joining our son in law Jody and daughter Carolyn and their family for Thanksgiving and Carolyn will be fixing the meal! So Judy is "amazingly thankful!"
This morning I read the Old Testament books of Ezra and Nehemiah. The story of the miraculous return of Israel back to Jerusalem from Babylonian captivity is an incredible display of the gracious hand of the Lord. Throughout the two books the spirit and the display of Thanksgiving to God is manifest over and again. Ezra was thankful. Nehemiah was thankful. The people were thankful. The "thankfulness" of the people was displayed in the reading of the Law of Moses, with singing, with choirs, with tears, with instruments, with praise so loud that people could hear it from afar.
The thankfulness expressed through the two books was essentially around these blessings:
- Thankfulness for the Babylonian Kings who released the captive Jews from Babylon and with blessings and money and protection to rebuild the temple and the walls of the city of Jerusalem sent them back to that ancient city. This act by the Babylonians was a miracle from God!
- Joy and thankfulness in the actual rebuilding of the temple.
- Joy and thankfulness in the actual rebuilding of the gates and walls of the city.
- Joy and thankfulness in the opportunity to offer sacrifices again.
- Joy and thankfulness in the reading of the Law of Moses.
- Joy and thankfulness in the results of repentance.
- Joy and thankfulness to be a nation once again.
All of this "joy and thankfulness" was expressed, essentially, in the face of opposition and difficulty. It was then that I (GJ) began to sense and see what the Lord was saying to me...in this current generation...2008!
Everything in our lives right now is not easy nor clearly defined. There are all sorts of "rumblings" not only in America, (economic, politically, culturally) but also in the nations of the world. Pull up any "news website" and immediately you read of the distress, the posturing, the threats, and yes, the fear, that is all boiling just below the surface of humanity in this "global neighborhood." Truly, our days are not much different, in many respects, from the days of Ezra and Nehemiah!
There were those times in both of the books that Ezra and Nehemiah called a "time out" and sought out God's heart and then gave thanks to God. And they did these acts of thankful worship in the midst of the unknown and of fear. But once refreshed with "thankful worship," they moved forward with confidence and with trust in the God they knew, they worshiped and they loved.
Read the ten chapters of Ezra and the thirteen chapters of Nehemiah. Discover for yourself the gift and spirit of thanksgiving in the midst of your adversity. Rediscover trust in the God of the Universe in your specific situation. Be blessed by the fact that God is still on His Throne- in the economy, in politics and in culture, and that He has not left you nor abandoned you.
Join the Ancients as you walk and live through "the rebuilding of your life and the reconstruction of the protective wall of God around your life and the lives of those you love this Thanksgiving 2008."
"With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord: He is good; his love to Israel endures forever." Ezra 3:11 (NIV)
With Thanksgiving Prayers and Thankful Hearts,
Graydon and Judy
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