I Thessalonians 5:18; Psalm 100&160;
A mother was reading a Bible story book to her three-year-old daughter. They came to the story of Daniel in the lion’s den, and it had a picture of the lions surrounding Daniel in a ferocious manner, as if they were about to eat him for lunch. The picture happened to have a smaller lion off to the side which did not seem to be a part of the pride that was attacking Daniel. The little girl began to cry. The mother tried to console her daughter, “It’s okay, Honey. Are you afraid the lions are going to eat Daniel?” The little girl shook her head, “No.” She pointed to the little lion off by himself and said, “Mommy, that poor little lion has no one to eat!”
I share this story with you because I don’t want any of us to be like the little girl and miss the point as we talk about Thanksgiving this morning. There is a sense of mystery and wonder as we think about the first Thanksgiving. Several groups of “pilgrims” had come to America before the ones that came on the Mayflower and had simply disappeared, never to be heard from again. They either died of diseases or were massacred by the Indians or were shipwrecked before they ever reached the shores of the New World. But God’s hand was supernaturally watching over the Mayflower Pilgrims as they came seeking a land where they could worship God in freedom.
The Pilgrims were people who had separated themselves from the Church of England because they felt that the church had not completed the work done by the Reformation. Most of them were poorly educated farmers who had fled from England to Holland in the early 1600’s. But they discovered that the pervasive Dutch influence on their children was more than they could tolerate. They were losing their precious children to the loose-living Dutch lifestyle. There seemed to be no choice but to take the risk of immigrating to the New World. Explorers had told stories of the new land, but there were no permanent settlements there yet.
After a 65-day voyage, the Pilgrims sighted land. But God had already been preparing for their arrival. Other ships had arrived before the Mayflower. But rather than coming for religious freedom, they had come looking for gold and riches. A young Indian named Squanto had been captured and taken aboard one of these ships. The ship returned to England where Squanto and some other Indians were taught English. After three years, they were put on board ship again to sail to the New World. They were to be used as interpreters for those who still sought gold and riches. When they reached the New World, Squanto was allowed to return to his people. But his freedom was short-lived. Another ship arrived before many days, and Squanto proudly led a band of young braves to greet the sailors. Armed sailors quickly seized Squanto and nineteen other braves. They were taken captive and forced to sail back to Spain, where each of the braves was put on the auction block. “Luckily” Squanto, along with several other braves, was bought by a monk from a nearby monastery. They were treated kindly by the monks and were taught about Christ. Squanto came to love their Jesus and to embrace Christianity.
But Squanto longed for home. Eventually he used his ability to speak the English language to make his way onto a ship bound for England. He soon became a guide on a ship bound for the New World. Finally, he saw the shoreline of home and was granted permission to leave the ship. But no one greeted Squanto at the beach. He ran to his village only to discover that it was empty. No dogs were even left to bark. His friend Samoset from a neighboring tribe broke the news that the entire village had been wiped out by the white man’s diseases. Within a week everyone had died. Squanto wandered the forest for weeks nursing his pain. Finally he went to live with Samoset.
Then one cold December morning six months after he had returned to his homeland, Squanto saw the white sails of another ship on the stormy horizon. This time he hid as the men came ashore. But these people’s clothes looked different from those of sailors. There were women aboard the ship and children playing on deck. Day after day, Squanto watched intently without being seen. He watched as the settlers began to build houses on the very place where his own village had been. As green leaves came to clothe barren trees in the Spring, Samoset urged Squanto to make himself known to the settlers. So, Squanto walked into their camp while the men grabbed their muskets to defend their village. They were astounded when this “savage” spoke to them in perfect English.
Many of the Pilgrims had already died from sicknesses and from the bitter cold. Squanto told his friend Samoset to go home. He said, “I’m staying. This is my home, my village. These will be my new people.” He taught them how to fish with traps. He taught them where to stalk game in the forest. The children learned what berries they could pick for their families. Twenty acres of corn grew tall after Squanto showed the Pilgrims how to plant fish with the native corn seeds.
In the Fall, the Pilgrims planned a feast to celebrate God’s merciful help. Squanto was sent to invite the friendly Chief Massasoit and his families to join them. They gathered around tables spread with venison, roast duck and goose, turkeys, shellfish, bread and vegetables with woodland fruits and berries for dessert. Before they ate, the Pilgrim men removed their hats and the Indians stood reverently as Governor Bradford led them in a solemn prayer: “Thank you, great God, for the bounty You have supplied to us. Thank You for protecting us…” Two years later, Squanto was struck with disease. With a raging fever, he asked Governor Bradford to pray “...that I might go to the Englishman’s God in Heaven.” And with that he died…gone from the New World but home at last!
It does not take a genius to realize that God’s hand of protection had been supernaturally guiding this group of Pilgrims on their journey. 102 passengers and crewmen left the port at Plymouth in England. Two people died in transit, and two babies were born. Over half of the group died during the first year of their sojourn in the New World. Of the eighteen married women, only three remained. By the time of the first Thanksgiving, their numbers were dwindling to just a few of the most hardy souls. But God’s presence with them was abundantly manifested.
Before long, they discovered that they were indeed in a land of milk and honey--abundant natural resources surrounded them. Within a few short years, they discovered lucrative businesses in the fur trade and in offshore fishing. Within several decades, many of the Pilgrims who had been poor farmers in England found themselves prospering beyond their wildest imaginations. They became land barons as well as prospering merchants. Abraham Lincoln said it well: “We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven; we have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity; we have grown in numbers, wealth, and power as no other nation has ever grown…”
But let’s talk for a moment about the curse of prosperity. Another group of pilgrims were making their way across a desert on their way to a land flowing with milk and honey. It was time to go in and possess the land God had prepared for them. But Moses spoke to them and said, “Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land God has promised you. Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character and to find out whether or not you would really obey His commands. Yes, He humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna. He did it to teach you that people need more than bread for their lives; real life comes by feeding on every word of the Lord… So you should realize that just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you to help you.
“So, obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in His ways and fearing Him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water with springs that gush forth in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, olives and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. When you have eaten your fill, praise the Lord your God for the good land He has given you. But…that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God…For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, that is the time to be careful! Do not become proud and forget the Lord your God….God will humble you and test you for your own good. Remember, it is the Lord your God who gives you power to become rich. God does not want you to think that it was your own strength and energy that made you what you are. If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, you will certainly be destroyed in the same way God has destroyed other nations. You will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8).
What a sad indictment against our nation that as we sit down for big Thanksgiving dinners this year, more people than not will suppress the feeling that God deserves their gratitude; and when they ought to bow their heads and thank God, they will do their best to forget Him and what real thanksgiving is all about. Why are we so ungrateful to God for all His blessings? The fundamental reason is that we are too prosperous. We tend to look around at all that we have and say, “By our own hands and labor we have achieved this and built this good life for ourselves.” We imagine in our minds that we have created the bountiful supply of everything we have. We have come to think that we deserve it because we are Americans. But it is an interesting fact that we tend to be more thankful when we are suffering in poverty than when we are enjoying plenty. In The Little House in the Big Woods, the author describes how new pioneers living on the virtual edge of subsistence celebrated Christmas. Each of the older children received exactly two presents (a pair of knitted mittens and a piece of candy), and the younger child received a home-made rag doll. Were the children unhappy and ungrateful because their gifts were so meager? On the contrary, they cried out, “This is the best Christmas ever!”
The Pilgrims dug seven times more graves than they built huts. Yet they celebrated the bountiful blessings of God. From their grateful attitude comes our own Thanksgiving celebration. Are you counting huts or tombstones this Thanksgiving? Are you living in an attitude of Thanksgiving and praise in spite of your circumstances? You are living in one of the greatest countries the world has ever known. You live in affluence that is above and beyond most of the world’s ability to even comprehend. Have you come to take it all for granted? Phillip Yancey tells about standing in the lodge at Yellowstone Park with a group of tourists and counting down the time to the eruption of Old Faithful. When the geyser exploded, there were “oohs” and “aahs” from all the tourists, but Yancey noted that all of the people working in the lodge didn’t even turn their heads to look. Old Faithful had lost its power to impress them.
Have we come to the place where we have taken God’s faithfulness for granted? I Thessalonians 5:18 says, “Always be joyful. No matter what happens, always be thankful, for this is God’s will for those who belong to Christ Jesus.” Are you living it today?