The invitation for every one of us to speak our thanks personally to our Creator, our Savior, is a unique and precious gift we Christians especially embrace. And we are grateful for the Biblical revelation that fuels vibrant human-to-divine thanks.
Thanksgiving – or giving thanks – is a huge theme in the Bible. For the first special meal recorded in the Bible, the marvelous priest-king Melchizedek brought plenty of food and wine to Abram (later called Abraham), along with Abram's small team of warriors and the people he rescued, to express thanksgiving for their extraordinary victory of liberation. Very few words of that ancient thanksgiving meal are recorded for us – 25 words in English, a mere 14 words in the original Hebrew. Nevertheless, those few words include strong blessings both for Abram and for God, who is identified as the Most High, the living and active liberator. In response, Abram gratefully gave to Melchizedek, a priest representing the Most High God, a thanksgiving offering of 10% of the plunder from the stunning victory this same living God had enabled.
Later, after liberating the Hebrew people from more than 400 years of slavery, the Lord instituted two yearly thanksgiving holidays that simultaneously celebrate two harvests and two great events in their history: Shavuot (Feast of Pentecost) and Sukkoth (Feast of Tabernacles) celebrating receiving the Lord's liberating Ten Commandments and the Lord's divine provisions for the wilderness journey, respectively. These two annual thanksgiving holidays are also directly related to the two annual harvests in that part of the world – in late spring and fall. These communal thanksgivings to God were instituted by the living God himself. People were instructed to commemorate God's grace-filled interventions into their lives, and that great idea has been infectious for us ever since. Read more
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