Dear Christian friends:

On October 3, 1789, George Washington, our first President, chose November 26, Thursday, as the first national Thanksgiving Day. Since then many presidents of our nation have chosen and proclaimed the last Thursday of November as our national Thanksgiving Day, as did President Bush again this year. Therefore we are gathered here today.

In his Thanksgiving Day proclamation in 1789, 203 years ago, President Washington wrote of all nations to acknowledge the providence of God Almighty, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and to humbly implore His protection and favor.

Where did President Washington get this idea? Did he himself think it? I suspect that he found it in the Bible. There are several chapters and verses in the Bible which teach us these duties for a nation. One such is our text, Deuteronomy 8:7-14 the Old Testament Lesson for this day, which was read before.

In this text we have Moses words to Israel. Moses spoke these words just before Israel entered the land of Canaan after God had freed them from slavery in Egypt. Moses words to Israel are also good advice for us who live in the USA today. These words we will use today as


What Moses said about the land of Israel can also be said about America. He says, "The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat, barley, vines, and fig trees, a land with pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land with plenty of bread and where you will want nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and where you can did brass from hills." (verses 7-9)

What Moses here says about the land of Canaan, can also be said about America. Indeed, much more can be said about America with its great natural resources. God permits us also to live in "a good land." Perhaps the best land on earth!

However, people who live in a good land, with "plenty" are in grave danger, a grave serious danger. About this danger Moses warned Israel and today Moses also warns us. Moses says, "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery." (Deuteronomy 8:10-14)

That is the warning Moses gave to Israel and the warning we can apply also to our nation today. We know that Israel later on did forget the Lord their God, the God who showed great love and mercy to them and wonders and freed them from slavery in Egypt and gave them the promise of the Christ. Then God had to chasten them and let enemy nations defeat them and rule over them until they were sorry and remembered to praise Him and thank Him.

We who live in America also are forgetting to thank and praise God for the good land He has given us, and all the many blessings He has for more than 200 years given to our nation. Today not many will go to church and thank God, but almost everyone will eat a fine turkey dinner. Many will not even say a prayer before or after they eat. Many think it is passe to pray to God and thank Him.

A farmer who believed in God received an invitation to dine with a famous gentleman. Since the host did not offer the prayer before the meal, the farmer bowed his head and offered a silent prayer. The host noticing this made this condescending and impolite remark, "Praying for food is old fashioned; well educated people no longer observe this custom." However, the farmer replied that it was his habit to pray before eating, but some of those on his farm never prayed for their food or thanked God for it. "Ah then," said the gentleman, "they are sensible and enlightened. Who are they?" "My pigs," answered the farmer.

I'm sorry to say it, but many in America seem to share this ungodly philosophy. They think they are sensible and enlightened but they are really insensible and in darkness.

We need not be in this darkness, although we sometimes act as if we are when we fail to pray and do not gladly thank God and serve him. And we may even be here at church today feeling obligated rather than joyful. God has graciously called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.

Therefore, we can with humble hearts praise and thank Him for all His blessings. This is true! Peter says to the Christians, "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a special people belonging to God, that you should declare the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness to come into His wonderful light. Before you were not His people, but now you are His people before you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10)

We Christians should be an example to others in our nation and influence them to thank God with a humble heart. We are to be salt and a light to our nation. Therefore, let us humbly kneel before our God today and praise Him for the good land He has given us." (verse 10)

This we are trying to do today, as we gather here in church. Church worship is one way we show our thanks and praise to God for all His love and mercy to us. I hope we realize how important this is!

Another way that we show our thanks to God is by obeying His Commandments. Moses says, in our text, "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day." (verses 10-11)

Those who really thank their God also obey their God! If a person thanks God in church and then goes out and breaks His Commandments, is he truly thankful? It would seem to be a contradiction. He is as a hypocrite! Thanksgiving and obedience are joined! Our nation today desperately needs upright citizens since so many have forgotten God and are lawless and violent.

Another fine way to thank God is to thank God's servants: Pastors, teachers, mailmen, policemen, civic officials.

William L. Stidger, professor at the School of Theology in Boston, Mass., one Thanksgiving Day began to think of the blessings God had given him during his past life. He remembered one teacher, a lady, he had not heard from for many years. He remembered how she had spent extra time teaching him about poetry, which he grew to love. So he wrote a letter to her thanking her for helping him to understand and appreciate poetry.

When the teacher received his letter she answered it immediately. She wrote:

"My dear Willie,

I cannot tell you how much your letter meant to me. I am now eighty-four years old, living alone in a small room, cooking my own meals, lonely and like the last leaf of Fall, hanging on to life. You will be interested to know that I taught school for fifty years and yours is the first letter of thanks that I have received. Your letter came on a blue, cold morning and it cheered me as nothing else has in many years."

Professor Stidger wept as he read her letter. He was glad that he had taken the time to write and thank God by thanking one of his servants.

(read verse 10) "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you."

Amen.