Thanksgiving Day

We have to appreciate the fact that our governments have set apart a Thanksgiving Day. It behooves our nations and each one personally to commemorate God’s benefits in the midst of His temple. It should be our prayer that God’s Spirit might influence our hearts thereto and grant us, out of free and sovereign grace, a broken heart and a contrite spirit. This sacrifice alone is well-pleasing in His sight through faith in Christ Jesus.

Lip-work cannot please God, for He looks after truth in the inward parts. To that end, may He grant us together not only the spirit of grace and supplication, but also the spirit of thanksgiving. Indeed, the Lord has been mindful of us. God’s mercies and goodness are great and manifold toward us, our families, the congregations, and our nations far above our merits and worthiness.

The Lord has spared us and provided for us in a bountiful measure. If He had entered into judgment with us and regarded our iniquities, our place would be vacant upon His footstool and we would be in the place of eternal misery. May our hearts be truly humbled, and may the goodness and mercies of God lead us to repentance for the first time or by renewal. May it also lead to the knowledge of the Triune God, who is the life of His people. In this knowledge there is eternal life.

The blessings which God gave us in the realm of nature were great, for we were blessed with fruitfulness and a plentiful harvest. There was yet seed for the sower and bread for the eater. Several states were beset with various calamities; the hand of the Lord was heavy with floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, and other disasters. Still it ought to be a wonder for all of us that we were not consumed by the holy wrath of God. God’s hand was stretched out over us in goodness, notwithstanding our terrible hardness of heart and the provoking sins of home, church, and nation. Although dark clouds hover above our heads on account of the threatening judgments of God, and God speaks powerfully in the signs of the times, these are not regarded. God permits His Word to be brought unto us, but the barrenness is great, and who takes it to heart? Who is grieved over this condition?

Blessed is he who may find peace with God and be sheltered in Christ as the Ark of Safety.

We do not have to go very far to seek this. Let each one examine himself, and surely we shall find so much guilt that, with the publican, we dare not raise our eyes to heaven because of shame. Oh, that we might truly become guilty before God. Then there would be hope, even though the future looks dark. The Lord testifies in His Word that when His people own their guilt and seek His face, then He will remember His covenant. Blessed is he who may find peace with God and be sheltered in Christ as the Ark of Safety. United by faith with Him, then, and then only, shall we be able to flee from the wrath of God. If this may take place in our lives, it is nothing else than that the Lord was mindful of us.

In this text man is not placed in the foreground. The Lord Jehovah, the true and living God, is the source of all blessings. “The Lord hath been mindful of us.” Even in eternity the Lord had thoughts toward His people. Jehovah declares this Himself in Jeremiah 29:11, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” From all eternity God moved according to His sovereign good pleasure. The cause of election and rejection does not lie in the creature. All motives or conditional causes outside of God are entirely impossible.

In the words “think” or “mindful” lies the meaning of power and strength, namely, the ability or power of the soul to retain something in remembrance, or to permanently retain someone in his thoughts or affections. Though this virtue is defective with men, nevertheless it is perfect with God. With men it is so often, “Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him” (Genesis 40:23).

We shall experience that here upon earth everything is defective and temporal. No one can give us anything which endures, not even the dearest child or servant of God, for we are all poor and needy creatures. In order to be able to truly pray or sigh for each other, it must be granted from above.

Moreover, in the way of discovery, God breaks down and causes us to lose everything. Such ways are bitter for our flesh and blood, but they are necessary in order that Christ may have the highest place in our hearts. God alone remains as the strength of our heart and the support of our soul. To be comprehended in the eternal thoughts of God surpasses everything. It is everything to experience this in our lives, namely, that God knew us from eternity, and that we are never out of His thoughts. He is ever mindful of us.

In respect of His people, He is always mindful of them in love. They are the object of His love and good pleasure, and His delights are with the children of men from all eternity. He is mindful of His covenant with them. He is mindful of them in Christ. Those whom He has loved were loved with an eternal love, and He shall love them unto the end. Whatever may fall away here upon earth, or whatever disappointments we meet with, the firm foundation of God standeth sure, “having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His.”

The salvation of God’s church and people lies secure in God from all eternity. At times God’s people may lament, “The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me” (Isaiah 49:14), but this is never the case. He has graven them in the palms of His hands, and their walls are continually before Him. He is ever mindful of them, and the experience of this fact gives them strength, courage, and happiness.

Yes, there are times when they are unable to express in words their wonderment that such a lofty, glorious, righteous, and holy God is mindful of them. They sink away in adoration when they consider that God’s face is turned to them in favor, and that He loves them with all the love of His heart, even though they are nothing but miserable, guilty, and damnable creatures. God was moved with compassion over them and was willing to reveal and glorify Himself in them by His love and include them in the eternal covenant of peace. God gave His only Son, which was the dearest He had; yes, He granted His people His Holy Spirit to dwell in them to constantly remind them of what Christ had spoken. Oh, that we all could say, “How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God!” (Psalm 139:17). That would be everything.

“The Lord hath been mindful of us.” We have abundant reasons to take it over in an outward sense for ourselves, our families, countries, and people. If God had not been mindful of us, we would have been consumed and swept away by His justice. May it fill us with wonder and amazement that God still bears with us. He has been mindful of us in nature. The covenant made with Noah has again been confirmed. The heavens still shower blessings upon us, so that nothing is lacking. If we are given a deep impression of this in our hearts, we will cry out on this Thanksgiving Day, “What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that Thou visitest him?” (Psalm 8:4). Would we then not be willing to bow in the dust if our eyes and hearts were opened to the greatness of this God, who grants this all out of pure grace.

My friends, we become aware of the fact that through our deep fall we have lost our intentions. We tread and trample on the benefits and forget God who gave them. Let us question ourselves at this time. How often during the past season were our hearts humbled when we beheld the precious green fields, the fully laden orchards, and the cattle in the pastures? Must we not admit with shame that our hearts are as a stone, and that we live as though we are entitled to these blessings? We have sunken deeper than the irrational creatures. Let us confess sincerely that our lives by nature are nothing but departings from God, forgetting God, and forsaking God. True thoughtfulness is not found in us. God must place us by the benefits, and His Spirit must lead us to that God, who also in this past season was mindful of those who have forgotten Him.

Without Christ we cannot observe Thanksgiving Day. He not only is the sin offering, but also the thank and praise offering which is acceptable to God. To be united through faith with Christ is essential shall it be well with us for time and eternity.

May the Lord strengthen those among us for whom this year was a year of calamities and disappointments. For some it was a difficult year. May the Lord give grace to bow in deep humility under His dealings with you, so that it bear fruit for your eternal welfare. May the Lord humble us together and give us to declare, “The Lord hath been mindful of us.”

(Before his death in 1984, Rev. Lamain served the congregation in Grand Rapids for thirty-seven years.)

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