Thanksgiving: The Only Expectation of God’s Church

According to the most trusted Bible commentators, Psalm 145 is a psalm of David. He wrote this psalm at the end of his life. In verse 1 we may see the condition of the heart of this poet. There he is saying, “I will extol Thee, my God.” By nature not one of us is able to say this, because then this God, addressed by David, is our Judge.

There was a time before sin that man, having come forth out of the hands of his Creator in the image of the Lord, found his greatest enjoyment in extolling his God. But when we listen to the world today, then we must say, “It seems as if there is nothing left of extolling the name of God.” Yet the Lord has and will always have a people who by grace in this life may already learn what it is to extol the name of God and may one day extol Him forever.

David might see so much of this in Psalm 31 when he said, “Oh how great

Rev. J. den Hoed is pastor of the Netherlands Reformed congregation of Rock Valley, Iowa. is Thy goodness, which Thou hast laid up for them that fear Thee!” Would you not say that for those people there are times when it may be Thanksgiving Day? David said, “The eyes of all wait upon Thee.” This is true. The entire creation is dependent upon the Lord. If the Lord had withheld His hand, nothing would have grown. Had we been dealt with by the Lord as we deserve, then instead of rain, fire would have come from heaven and we would all have been destroyed. Must this not cause deep concern among us when we see ever deeper the hardening of the heart? Where are they who, crying and supplicating, come to God’s house saying, “Lord, I am unconverted; have mercy upon me! The eyes of all wait upon Thee”?

Above all, this speaks of God’s people. The Lord has opened their eyes. They now see in what a dangerous condition they are. They experience deeply the separation between the Lord and their soul. Sin becomes a burden. All their former life comes before their eyes. No longer can they travel through this life in their former way. They must leave the world, but where must they go?

They begin to seek. As a seeking people, the Word of God and the institutions of the Lord become so precious. Those people do not have to be admonished to come to church. They come with a hunger and thirst. When they sit under the preaching, their heart cries out, “Our eyes wait upon Thee.” There are times when on Monday they may meditate upon what they have received Sunday in the house of the Lord. And on Tuesday they long for the time when it may again be Sunday. There are times when the Lord gives so much of His favor unto those searching eyes that it may become Thanksgiving Day. They may then say, “Thanks be unto God for His wonderful grace.” They may then lift up their eyes and heart saying, “Lord, we will go from strength to strength, ever onward, ever upward.”

Oh, what a wonder when the Lord again gives us a prayer day and He comes to apply what He speaks of in His Word! “What I have builded I will break down, what I have planted I will root up.” Why does the Lord do this? He takes away every expectation which is built upon self. He will cause those eyes to look deeper into their lost condition. He wants those eyes to see our deep covenant breach in our covenant head Adam. He wants that heart to learn that it is lost forever — lost, seeing the righteous justice of God.

Must this go so deep? Yes, because the ever faithful Jehovah God will bring those eyes to the hill Golgotha where they may see the Lamb that was slain. There they may view the price which has been paid; there they may behold a satisfied Judge, who in Jesus Christ becomes all and everything for their never-dying soul. All eyes, that is, of the entire church of the Lord, from the smallest to the greatest, shall see this. They are the eyes of a refuge-taking faith, and those who may have more assurance may experience, “Unto those who believe He is precious.”

Dear reader, upon what have you been focusing your eyes? Many focus them upon the world. It will be something in that day to have our eyes turned away from all that which cannot help anymore, and to then be focused upon a righteous Judge who will say, “I have never known you, go ye out into outer darkness.” Many focus their eyes upon a self-willed religion. They have never stood with the publican in the back of the temple, saying, “Lord, be merciful to me a sinner.” They have a self-accepted Jesus, but not a God-given Jesus. That also must end in bitter disappointment. “The eyes of all wait upon Thee.” Are there such eyes in beginning or in continuance? They will not always wait. David said, “Thou givest them their meat in due season. Thou openest Thine hand and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.” This is also outwardly. As a denomination we commemorate Thanksgiving Day. Looking back we may say, “The Lord has made all things well. He gave food and drink in the midst of our families. We may continue in the day of grace.” How many have been laid upon a sickbed and for whom it has become eternity! Should we then not say this is all because of the open hand of the Lord? We may continue with our families to have a place under the truth of God’s Word. These are the many blessings of God’s open hand. Why is it then that we do not want to reckon with this God? We want to assure ourselves outside of this God; we, with all our religion, no longer want to live according to the landmarks which the Word of God continues to hold before us. And yet the Lord continues to open His hand to satisfy the desire of every living thing.

The desire for earthly food will stop at the grave. But the Lord has other food. He has food for hungering and thirsting souls who cry with a missing heart, “Lord, open Thine hand once.” Thinking of that food, they say, “Lord, may it be that out of Thy open hand there may come one crumb from the Master’s table.” What a wonder it then becomes in their life when the Lord opens His hand and they may see how this God was moved from within Himself! They may see that there was never anything of themselves that asked for God, but there came a time that He asked for them. What a wonder this becomes when the Lord opens His hand and they may see something of Him who said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life”!

Dear reader, it then becomes Thanksgiving Day. They may then be broken and humbled before the Lord. And that is the fruit of God’s work. It is a fruit which is precious in His sight. Those people may then experience: nothing in me, but everything in Him. Oh, then it is such a wonderful work to be saved, for then all of self is placed outside! There the soul may experience, “Underneath are the everlasting arms.” When we may come to an end, there is a full salvation with Him.

What are the fruits of this? There are times when their mouth may voice David’s psalm, “I will extol thee, my God, O King, and I will bless Thy Name forever and ever.” Then they cry out, “Lord, hold on to me; never let me go, but work with Thy dear Spirit evermore in my heart.”

Has the Lord opened His hand for you this past season? Has He blessed you in family life, provided for you so abundantly that today you may be able to say, “He has made all things well”? But that is only pertaining to this earthly life. You say, “Yes, this is necessary.” But this life will one day come to an end. That is why I ask you these questions. Has the Lord opened His hand to give you a true spiritual need? Has He opened His hand by laying you at the gate of His free, onesided mercy with a crying heart, saying, “Lord, I cannot let Thee go anymore; speak only one word unto my soul”? Has He opened His hand and led you upon the way as a lost, undone sinner unto Christ’s blood, given to the saving of the soul? Has He opened His hand to place you at the foot of the cross, “Give me Jesus or I die”? At times such as this, you may taste something of what it is to bring gratitude to the Lord on Thanksgiving Day. Then you may feel something of what the poet is speaking of, “The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and holy in all His doings.”

There are little lambs who out of that open hand receive enough milk to give inner spiritual growth

Who will say at the end of this season, “Lord, what dost Thou?” Some have been taken away; others may

continue to be in the day of grace. Perhaps some received riches in abundance and others have received only a meager share of this world’s goods, and as a result they must struggle from one day to the next. The Lord is righteous in all His ways, and all is according to His eternal counsel. It is also according to that same counsel that He continues to bring His Word to us, saying, “Turn ye, turn ye unto Me and be ye saved.” Yet that same righteous and holy God according to His everlasting counsel has chosen some to everlasting life and others to eternal destruction. Oh, may such a doctrine bring us upon our knees! This tells us that there is a way to be saved. Because this holy God has chosen a people to be His people. To save them, He gave a way outside of man in His only beloved Son. Oh, one day they may be forever where nothing can ever mar their happiness anymore! But here they are among those who certainly will be saved because He who cannot lie has promised it. There are little lambs who out of that open hand receive enough milk to give inner spiritual growth. Among them here below are also grown sheep who are in need of solid food. Together they may learn that their God is righteous and holy in all His works, and that the Lord is nigh unto all that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.

Have you heard the mournful cry of the bee on getting no honey from flower after flower? Even so gracious souls mourn when, in the various means of grace, they fail to meet with Christ.

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