Let the People Praise Thee

Let the People Praise Thee

Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee.  Psalm 67:3

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful day each year.  Lots of food. Fun family gatherings. Football games and more eating.  Christmas shopping commences. There are so many things going on that perhaps most people have forgotten what the original intention of Thanksgiving Day was.

Governor Bradford of Massachusetts made the very first Thanksgiving Proclamation in the “New World” of America. He said:

“Inasmuch as the great Father has given us this year an abundant harvest of Indian corn, wheat, peas, beans, squashes, and garden vegetables, and has made the forests to abound with game and the sea with fish and clams, and inasmuch as He has protected us from the ravages of the savages, has spared us from pestilence and disease, has granted us freedom to worship God according to the dictates of our own conscience.

Now I, your magistrate, do proclaim that all ye Pilgrims, with your wives and ye little ones, do gather at ye meeting house, on ye hill, between the hours of 9 and 12 in the day time, on Thursday, November 29th, of the year of our Lord one thousand six hundred and twenty-three and the third year since ye Pilgrims landed on ye Pilgrim Rock, there to listen to ye pastor and render thanksgiving to ye Almighty God for all His blessings.”

Later on George Washington made a similar declaration in the new, United States.  Long before Bradford or Washington, the Psalmist wrote that we should praise the Lord.  More than just one day of the year, we are to give praise and thanksgiving to the Lord.  God is always good!  So, before being filled with food, fun, fellowship, and football, be sure to express appreciation and thanksgiving to God.  It is all because of Him that we have anything good to celebrate anyway.