November 21, 2025
- credford5
- 1 hour ago
- 3 min read
It’s here. The holidays. An upcoming week where we set aside a day to focus on being thankful. It’s a nice idea. I love the food. But the concept is fraught with poor theology. The Thanksgiving holiday sets us up for a failure of faith if we aren’t careful.
Allow me to explain. I don’t know what your family traditions around the Thanksgiving holiday are. At least in the movies the family sits around a beautifully adorned dinner table holding hands, everyone sharing something they are thankful for. Side note: That concept has always bothered me. While everyone is sharing the delicious food is getting cold! I digress. You might say, ‘What’s the big deal? Isn’t focusing on the things we’re thankful for a good thing? Doesn’t God want us to be thankful, after all?’ That’s just it. He does! But not in the way we may think or practice.
Read Psalm 13.
How long, Lord? Will you forget me forever?
How long will you hide your face from me?
2 How long must I wrestle with my thoughts
and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
3 Look on me and answer, Lord my God.
Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,
4 and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,”
and my foes will rejoice when I fall.
5 But I trust in your unfailing love;
my heart rejoices in your salvation.
6 I will sing the Lord’s praise,
for he has been good to me.
David isn’t vacillating here as it may first appear. He’s not appealing to God to act in his life in a desperate moment of frustration one minute and then turning around and simply saying, ‘But all my pain doesn’t matter, God. I trust you’ in the next. He’s actually building a case for a life-posture of thanksgiving. In fact, the writers of the Psalms give thanks to or praise God in a vast majority of the Psalms! Look, again, at Psalm 100:1-5
Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. 2
Worship the Lord with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
3 Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his[a];
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving
and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
5 For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.
What is David doing here is? David is looking backward at who God is, his character, and his past actions… in order to look forward. In essence David is saying that God’s future promises are as sure as his character and past actions. God’s promises are as good as done. I can look back at my life, God’s qualities, and his movement in and around me and know with certainty that this same God is going to sustain me and bring about good in my life.
This is a lifestyle of thanksgiving. This is a heart-posture that comes before God regularly in times of worship, lament, and asking with thanksgiving and praise! The Psalms have been teaching me that to have a thankful heart toward God is the foundation of intimacy with him. It’s a necessity. I encourage you this week to come to God frequently with thanksgiving and praise. For who he is. For what he’s done. For the evidence of his power and grace. For his promises. Dig into his Word. Make note of his many promises. Meditate upon and consider where you’ve seen his glory and provision… and know that you will see them again. His faithfulness continues through all generations.
Have a wonderful Thanksgiving this coming week!
Nathan
Nathan Hinkle
Lead Pastor