Throughout God's Word there are many, many scriptural references to thanksgiving... and not a turkey among them I might add...gobble, gobble! Having said that, I just finished making the stuffing that will be a compliment to the turkey that my son and daughter-in-law will be cooking for us this weekend and I made the buns yesterday. The aroma in the house smells delicious!
My prayer is that you will, truly, have a blessed Thanksgiving...
If you were to look up the word 'aroma' in a Bible concordance you would find that the references are almost all pointing towards God and speak of a 'soothing aroma' to Him. Just as we enjoy the wonderful aroma of turkey and stuffing in our homes... (let's face it, we just plain like the house filled with the smells of a good meal being prepared!)... there is also an aroma that is soothing to God and the common theme seems to be that it is the aroma of a sacrifice that is being offered to Him.
At this time of year the giving of thanks for our blessings of family, good health, a roof over our heads, food on the table, friends, whatever we deem to be good and pleasurable, seems to be the thing to do - and yet, there is another form of thanksgiving that pleases God.
"In everything give thanks;
for this is God's will for you
in Christ Jesus."
1 Thessalonians 5:18
Just like many of you, our family as a whole and each one of us individually have taken a couple of hits this past year... it's just the common theme of living here on planet earth. Yet how often do we stop and think of giving a sacrifice of thanks in these circumstances? Not for the circumstances themselves, but giving thanks in the circumstance, giving thanks and praise to God, of what you know to be true of God in that circumstance. A sacrifice will always cost us something... and most of the time it is our own ideas of how we determine things or circumstances should be.
The scripture verse that I have committed to memory this past week has made me think upon these things...
This is my comfort in my affliction,
that Your Word has revived me.
It is good for me that I was afflicted,
that I may learn your statutes.
Psalm 119: 50,71
There are many kinds of affliction, you have yours and I have mine. Yet we have comfort while in the midst of them... God's Word can and will revive us. Then we will be able to say that 'it is good that I was afflicted'... because instead of the affliction devastating me or taking me out, I learned the Word of God which revives me and brings me comfort... not just in what I went through but for today and for that which still lies ahead.
This Thanksgiving, I'll be thanking God for all the blessings that I can possibly think of to thank Him for ... and I'll also be thanking Him for those afflictions, those hard places that have brought me even closer to Him, The One Who has given me Comfort and Healing.
My prayer is that you will, truly, have a blessed Thanksgiving...
with love,
No comments:
Post a Comment