Sing Praise to the Lord - Part X
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the God of gods, for His steadfast love endures forever. Give thanks to the Lord of lords, for His steadfast love endures forever; to Him who alone does great wonders, for His steadfast love endures forever.” ~Psalm 136:1-4
Thanksgiving is the holiday of food — turkey and stuffing, casseroles and candied yams, pies and other desserts. All these bring to mind reasons to give thanks to God for His abundant provision. I wonder, though, when you give thanks to God for His provision, does it ever occur to you to give thanks for things He will do, not just for things He has done?
Our Hymn of Praise this week, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” (715), is a wonderful Thanksgiving hymn, but a careful reading will reveal that only the first stanza is about an earthly harvest. In reality, this hymn is about God gathering His saints in the final harvest. What a surprise to discover that we’re really singing a hymn of thanksgiving for God’s future work of bringing us into His heavenly “harvest home!”
We live in an age when “harvest” has lost its meaning. For most of us “harvest” means opening the refrigerator door or running to the grocery. But verse one reminds us that everything we have comes from God. We are encouraged to “raise the song of harvest home,” for “all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.” Lest we forget that every morsel we enjoy is truly a gift from the hand of God, let’s come to worship this Sunday prepared to thank Him, for “God, our Maker, doth provide for our wants to be supplied.”
Verse two envisions us as fruit-producing plants in the field of God’s harvest. “Grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be” is a prayer that we would live lives that yield fruit unto God’s praise. The imagery also suggests that we should be maturing in our Christian walk: “First the blade, and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear.” This reminds us that fruit-producing plants grow and mature as they yield fruit unto God’s glory.
Verses three and four shift our focus to the future as they remind us Christ is coming back, and when He does, His angels will put the sickle to the field. Yet for the Christian, this does not produce feelings of fear but of joyful thanks in light of what it means for us: “But the fruitful ears to store in His garner evermore.” What a wonderful promise for us to lay ahold of this Thanksgiving. One day Jesus shall return to bring us to His “final harvest home,” where we will be “free from sorrow, free from sin; there forever purified, in [His] presence to abide!”
On this Lord’s Day after Thanksgiving, let’s come to God with thankful hearts, not just for all His provision here on earth, but also for the promise of His provision for all eternity — that He Himself will “gather [His] people in.” Even so, Lord, quickly come.
Rev. Kyle Lockhart, Associate Pastor