One Came Back

Nov 24, 2019 | by Pastor Josh Tate | series: Thanksgiving


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It was 152 years ago, at the height of the Civil War that President Lincoln declared the last Thursday in November as a national day of Thanksgiving. In his Thanksgiving Proclamation, issued on October 3, 1863 and published a couple days later in the New York Times, he spoke of the many ways that God had blessed and helped the United States. Speaking of those many blessings he wrote, “No human counsel has devised, nor has any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who while dealing with us in anger for our sins, has nevertheless remembered mercy.”

The Thanksgiving Proclamation of 1863 is, in my opinion, one of the wisest and humblest directives of any American President in the history of our country. I say humble because, unlike many politicians who credit every benefit that the nation enjoys to the wisdom of their own policies, Abraham Lincoln humbly pointed to God as the source of those blessings. And although the nation was facing many difficulties at that time he did not assign blame for them to his political opponents but led the nation in confessing our national sins and thanking God for being gracious and merciful towards us despite them. That demonstrates a remarkable humility. And I say it was “wise” because a posture of Thanksgiving before God almighty will help individuals and nations in the midst of both desperate and prosperous times. In a difficult season Thanksgiving protects the heart from anxiety, envy and bitterness. In times of prosperity a season of Thanksgiving will protect an individual or a nation from the destructive influence of pride.

President Lincoln seemed to understand that it is in our best interests as a nation to be reminded that everything we have is a gift from God. Without gratefulness, we become arrogant and self-centered. We begin to believe that we have achieved everything on our own. Thankfulness keeps our hearts in right relationship to the Giver of all good gifts.

So I am grateful to President Lincoln who gave us a national season of Thanksgiving by which we might be reoriented in a Godward direction and to be reminded that these blessings, which threaten to make our hearts fat and our ears dull, were not, as Abraham Lincoln said, devised through human counsel or worked out by mortal hands, they are the gracious, merciful gifts of the Most High God to a sinful people who do not deserve them.

But long before Abraham Lincoln directed the nation to set aside a day to for the purpose of Thanksgiving, God instructed His people, the church, to continually give thanks. 1 Thessalonian 5:18 says, “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” And Psalm 106:1 says, “Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!”

In this message we prepare our hearts for Thanksgiving by studying an account found in Luke 17:11-19 in which Jesus heals a ten lepers, and which shows us how Christian Thanksgiving is distinct.